Knitta what?

On my way to work last week, I noticed this sight in the heart of bo-bo land, on the corner of the rue Oberkampf and the avenue Parmentier. What was it? A funky sock atop a cross-walk signal? A random act of knitting?  I shrugged it off in that blasé Parisian way that all foreigners must adopt to fit-in and continued on my way.

Over my morning coffee, I scanned my bloglines feeds and came across this picture on JuJu's blog. It looked like it had a similar street ethos as the creation on my corner - could it have been the work of the same masterminds? JuJu identified hers as the work of the Knitta Please gang who came to Paris on the occasion of Bergère de France's 60th anniversary.* Read more about it in Les echos (sorry French only). Sounds kind of commercial for a soi-disant gang of knitters but is very cool and creative in its ésprit none-the-less. This is not your grandma's knitting...

When I showed Ribbit the knitted graffiti on the way home from dinner the other night - he just looked at me and said "you crazy Americans".

Lexicon:

soi-disant (adj): so-called (although apparently this adjective is not recommended by grammar purists who instead insist that one uses prétendu)

*Bergère de France, for those who don't know, is one of the main purveyors of cheap acrylic yarn in France. 

Comments

[Noémie]

Bergère de France sells yarn that is no cheaper and no more acrylic than Phildar.
And as opposed to Phildar, they've kept to selling yarn and knitting (and also knitted) stuff. (Phildar, on the contrary, sells mostly clothes and underwear, now, and not much wool).
Bergère de France still makes most of the yarn they sell. And they sell mainly by mail order, as they always have.
Twenty years ago, french knitters could also mail order wool from les 3Suisses, the catalogs, and the patterns were free (or almost) when you purchased wool.

[Cecile]

Hi Stephanie, I lived in the 11eme for 3 months last fall. I loved it. I hadn't heard of the knitta graffitti in Paris. That is so cool. I wish I'd seen it. I left Paris Nov. 30. I had heard about them through the paris_tricot site. There was something else in your blog I wanted to comment on, but I've forgotten what it was.

[gail]

I love the random acts of knitting in Paris. I have been searching the internet for photos of and patterns for the handknits worn by Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose." Have you seen anything in France?? Thanks for whatever leads you can provide.

[gail]

I love the random acts of knitting in Paris. I have been searching the internet for photos of and patterns for the handknits worn by Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose." Have you seen anything in France?? Thanks for whatever leads you can provide.