Benalla’s yarnbombers have been brightening the winter months in the Rose City for almost half a decade.
And it won’t be long until the CBD is full of colourful characters and creative patterns once again — in August to be exact.
However, before that happens two members of the group will be headed to the first annual Woolinale Yarnbombing Festival on the banks of the Rhine in Cologne, Germany.
They will be taking a unique knitted Australian scene to display as part of the festival, which has invited yarnbombers from across the world.
When The Ensign reported on the invitation the group received in 2022, while happy to send something to exhibit, members of the group were unable to attend.
However Benalla yarnbomber Joy Shirley said her and another member have now booked (European) summer holidays which will allow them to attend in person.
“This is the first Woolinale Festival and they’ve invited yarnbombers from all over the world to put in an item for display,” Ms Shirley said.
“They saw our last yarnbombing event and one of the organisers fell in love with the Minions we made, and contacted us and asked us to participate.”
However, Ms Shirley said the group decided not to send a Minion, opting for something to symbolise Australia.
“We are sending an Aussie desert landscape using all the different colours of the ground and sky and all the flora and fauna,” she said.
“We should get that finished on Saturday, February 11. Its about 90cmx70cm and will be displayed on a fence at the festival.
“We decided that we needed to do something to depict Australia. So that’s where the idea came from.
“There’s been five of us working on it and we’ve all contributed a little bit as we wanted it to be collaborative.”
The Woolinale Festival will be auctioning off all the submitted works with the proceeds going to various local charities in Germany.
The Woolinale Festival will take place from March 31 to April 2. Find out more at www.woolinale.de/