Last week I invited my crocheting friend Brittanny of Loops and Bounds Co. to join me at a local screening of the film “YARN” in Atlanta. It was a morning filled with fiber friends, free giveaways and a really great film.
The Atlanta Knitting Guild hosted the screening at a local movie theater, and they went all out to make sure everyone had a great time. Thanks for such a fun experience!
I’ve never seen so many people excited to talk about and watch a movie about yarn. There were beautiful handknit scarves and sweaters everywhere I looked. And the patterns were unlike many that I’ve seen, like this one called “Fox Paws.”
“YARN” is a movie from Una Lorenzen, Heather Millard and Thordur Jonsson. It follows four artists who are redefining knitting, crochet and traditional views of how use yarn.
Take a look at the trailer for the film:
I loved everything about this film. The colors, the artistic effects, the narration, the artists … everything.
It starts with narration from writer Barbara Kingsolver about the joy of yarn, knitting, and all it encompasses.
And in spite of their various natures, all these strings can be lured to sit down together and play a fiber concerto whole in the cloth. – Barbara Kingsolver
The animation of yarn strings dancing across the screen paired with these words from Kingsolver was absolutely my favorite part about the entire film. I could watch those scenes every day.
But the artists featured in the film were the focus, and the filmmakers told their stories in beautiful ways.
Tinna Þórudóttir Þorvaldsdóttir appeared first on screen in Iceland. She’s a yarnbomber, and throughout the film you follow her from windy, sheep-filled Iceland to Spain and then to Cuba. Her perspective on women and knitting is inspiring.
Toshiko Horiuchi MacAdam is a textile artist from Japan who began crocheting playground sculptures for children in the ’70s. “YARN” followed her to one of her installations at an Italian museum where kids could swing, climb and jump within her crocheted structure.
Tilde Björfors and Cirkus Cirkör looked at yarn as more of a metaphor for life’s entanglements and struggles. The acrobats in the performance had really interesting perspectives on how they portray those ideas in the show — and the acrobatics were just plain cool to watch 🙂
OLEK is a crochet artist taking her own path into the art world. Her scenes had the most laughter and reaction from the movie screening crowd because she was just so fun to watch. She crocheted entire body suits for friends and set them free into the city streets, covered an entire locomotive in yarn, and crafted a mermaid tail for a swimmer and took it straight to the ocean.
And because Atlanta Knitting Guild is so amazing, check out the stash of free patterns and yarn I came away with!
I love this mohair pattern book that was included, but alas, looks like I need to learn German to read any of the patterns.
This Saturday morning was one that knitters and crocheters dream about — a chance to spend time with other yarn lovers, meet up with new fiber friends (hi, Brittanny!), and get to know my local knitting guild. I’m really interested in learning more about the guild, and I wouldn’t have really known about them without this fun experience.
You can stream “YARN” online a few different ways, or see if it’s coming to a theater near you.
And you can read Barbara Kingsolver’s incredible essay here.
YARN film stills via facebook.com/yarnthemovie.
knitjulep.com 