yarn bombing for good
Jessica Catrett (political craftivist and my sister!) and her 13 year old, Collin, visited last week, and we turned Artschmart into a yarn bombing workshop. Jessica and Collin brought their tools and lots of colorful yarn, and we spent Tuesday and Thursday morning teaching people how to crochet. Almost everyone who came was a beginner, and we offered technical and moral support to get people started. We had pom-pom makers for young kids, and we also showed them how to finger-crochet. The older kids and adults worked on crocheting chains and granny squares. It was a great group of people of all ages and genders, working together to learn a new skill. The one thing we couldn’t teach was how to stop!
In 2024, Jessica started a group in Texas called Houston Stitching Together, that creates collaborative installations to support causes in their community. They started their group to protest the Texas Education agency’s state takeover of the Houston Independent School District. That takeover has completely transformed public schools in Houston, removing beloved teachers, firing librarians, replacing school libraries with “discipline areas”, and strictly enforcing what teachers are allowed say and do in their classrooms. It’s really grim, and especially so for creative kids and teachers. The Houston Stitching Together craftivist group has created installations all over the city to raise awareness (including two amazing yarn-bombed art cars for the Houston Art Car Parade) and taught many, many people how to crochet and protest injustice through collective action. They attend protests and host yarn-bombing meet-ups in coffee shops, bookstores, and parks, and their work directly helped to defeat a 4.4 million dollar bond that would have further funded the school takeover.
Sisters Alexa, Nicole and Kenya Torres work on attaching crochet patterns to PVC piping to display work as members of the group Houston Stitching Together meet to assemble on protest signs against Houston ISD, Sept. 8, 2024, in Houston.
Jason Fochtman/Staff photographer Houston Chronicle
from Houston Stitching Together’s Facebook page:
HISD is under attack. The Arts, creative thinking, and joy belong in public education.
We will not allow our community to be destroyed. We will fight for it, one stitch at a time. Together, we are crafting creative displays to raise awareness about the real effects of the takeover on our schools.
We need yarn artists of all types and skill levels, sites to display installations, supplies, and people to help assemble.
No experience is needed. We are happy to teach you a fun new skill.
Join us!
A news segment about Houston Stitching Together
Houston is really diverse, and the Houston Stitching Together group has created installations protest ICE and support migrants in their community. They installed giant crochet butterfly wings at a local coffee shop, with messages in Spanish and English that say “Migration is beautiful”, where people can take their photo standing in front of the wings. It’s really beautiful. It’s also two blocks away from where Lorenzo Salgado Araujo was murdered by ICE agents, and one of their most recent projects was crocheting flowers for his memorial.
A Houston Stitching Together installation to support migrants
Crocheted flowers for Lorenzo Salgado Araujo
Their current project is working to help elect Gina Hinojosa for Texas Governor, hosting meet-ups where people can re-purpose old political yard signs by covering them with their own crocheted ones. They are also auctioning crochet signs to raise money for Gina’s campaign. Having a democratic governor in Texas could create some real political change, for the schools, and migrants, and the country. I’m hopeful! If you are interested in helping Houston Stitching Together, you can donate to their cause by donating supplies, or crocheting granny squares that they can stitch into larger installations. Contact Houston Stitching Together for more information about how to help! You can also find them on instagram @houstonstitchingtogether if you want to be inspired and see what is possible with collective creative action
