Tree Gloves

Each time I venture out into the city I always notice something new, whether it's a unique store, restaurant, or a plaque that describes the history of the building. But the strangest thing I've found so far are tree gloves. There's this stretch of trees by the main drag that leads into Federation Square, where people have knitted pieces for every tree that can be dressed in the area. It looks quite "Dr. Seussesque", or kinda like awesome tube socks that I wish existed; it's so wonderfully colorful! The first day Richard and I noticed them, we saw a team of people knitting the glove literally around the tree to attach it.

So I got curious and decided to dig a little deeper to see what this thing was all about, I found several tags on the trees that had website information. I was as always, incredibly entertained;)! One tag lead me here: https://www.facebook.com/yarncorner. The gloves are apparently made by a group of artists who come together to "yarn bomb" large projects across Melbourne. This is the second year this has been done, and they've crocheted and knitted 28 different pieces for the installation. The facebook page has pictures of all the different colors, you can tell which one if my favortie. 

The other tag is of a website that draws focus to Melbourne's Forest Strategy through the use of the fuzzy tree glove: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/sustainability/urbanforest/pages/urbanforest.aspx. One of the things that makes Melbourne so unique is the amount of parks they have scattered all throughout the city. Due to Australia tough climate and the recent drought, there have been brought water restrictions to the city, which unfortunately puts stress on the trees. Apparently Melbourne may lose 27% of their tree population in the next decade unless changes are made. This website lays out plans in which they hope to avoid that fate by taking certain measures.


I think it's great that a form of art is being used to help get the word out and educate people about what needs to be done to save trees in the city. What a unique way to help make a difference through the use of a craft that's been around for hundreds of years; subtle political art.