I spent my weekend knitting a hat. Yes, at 20 years old, I like to knit and have been doing so since I was about 15.

A friend’s mom had given me the pattern a few weeks ago and with the gloomy weather this past and current weekend I decided I was up to the challenge. Currently, it is still a work in progress but I’m excited to see what will become of it.

I am a self-described nerd but this is what I like to do. I like knowing that I created something and did it all myself. It’s my creative outlet. I’m a stressed out college student and it’s one of the things that helps me relax.

Over the past five or so years I’ve made a variety of different things: slippers, cell phone cases and too may scarves to count.

Knitting is not just for the stereotypical elderly woman anymore.

Have you ever heard of yarn-bombing? Neither had I, until recently. Yarn-bombing is graffiti but with knitted cloth that is often brightly colored. These artists cover pretty much anything you can think of in yarn.

My first introduction to this phenomenon was on a tampon commercial that featured a bicycle completely covered in a patchwork of yarn creations. That was just one example of it.

After seeing the commercial and a similar advertisement in a magazine, I became curious. It looked kind of cool.

I typed “yarn covered bike” into a search engine and got about 497,000 hits. There were pictures of yarn-covered bikes, yarn-covered statues, a yarn-covered city bus and, my favorite, a military tank covered in a pink patchwork piece. Sometimes it’s something as simple as a bike rack.

Google it and you’ll see what I’m talking about. It is not just a one-time phenomenon, either. In 2011, The New York Times did an article on trends and talked who they said many believe to be the “mother of yarn bombing,” Magda Sayeg.

Sayeg has since been hired to “professionally yarn-bomb” for commercials much like the one I saw.

Notice I said “professionally yarn-bomb”; this means she had permission to do it. Most of the time yarn-bombing is considered graffiti and can result in an arrest. I am in no way advocating breaking the law.

However, I won’t lie. I think it’s cool and inspiring that something that was once regarded as a hobby for elderly women now has something as radical as this associated with it. No, I am not a yarn-bomber and probably never will be. But I’m glad that it’s out there.

Nothing is ever quite what it seems, and just because I knit does not mean I am “an old lady.”

Amy Wywialowski is a junior history major. She can be reached at 581-2812 or [email protected].