Xenobia Bailey

The first time I learned about yarn bombing was when I learned about Xenobia Bailey. There was an article written about her in Essence magazine after she’d crocheted one of director Spike Lee’s movie sets. There was a picture of her seated in front of one of her creations.

The term “yarn bombing” had not been used. We just said, “She crochets movie sets.” And that is what she did.

Years later, when I took formal knitting classes, I spent a lot of time in yarn shops, in libraries, in thrift stores, looking through books. I was looking for the name of the Afghan pattern my paternal grandmother had on her couch when I was growing up. The book that contained my grandmother’s Afghan pattern was called, “Mason Dixon Knitting by Kay Gardiener and Ann Shayne. The Afghan pattern was called log cabin knitting. There was also a picture and a small article about Xenobia Bailey contained within the book.

That book was a constant companion of mine. I adored log cabin knitting. I especially liked the article on Xenobia Bailey. With the advancement of technology including personal websites, and YouTube, I was able to keep up with Xenobia Bailey a little better.

I told everyone I knew when she did the Funktional Vibrations mosaic for the 468^th subway station opening in New York in 2015.

I literally cheered her on from a distance and not knowing that one day, I would yarn bomb a car for Whitney Young High School.