Via AEIOU I ran across an impressive article about a new and hilarious trend: the confluence of two rising cultural tides: crafting/knitting and street art in Houston Press:

"We're taking graffiti and making it warm, fuzzy and more acceptable," says AKrylik. "I like the duality there. Also, I really think there can be a lot more to the new, alternative knitting craze than meeting at the local coffee shop every Sunday afternoon to make scarves together -- not that I don't like to do that, too." (...) Poly stands guard while AKrylik puts a pink, red and gray swatch on the bike rack at Poison Girl; it's done faster than you can say "Christo." (...) These gangsta mamas have big plans: cozies for car bumpers, hats for fire hydrants, carpets for sidewalks and, if only they can get enough people, curtains for bridges and covers for water towers.

Pictures by Keith Plocek showing AKrylik and PolyCotN work:

Why do I blog this? even though this seems to be pretty funny and nice, I am convinced than this take part a broader innovative trend: connected to 'do it yourself' motivation, this kind of bricolage is meant to give some personalization feelings. It reminds me Ulla-Maaria's manifesto:

1. People get satisfaction for being able to create/craft things because they can see themselves in the objects they make. This is not possible in purchased products. 2. The things that people have made themselves have magic powers. They have hidden meanings that other people can’t see.

So what we have here in the street is a mix of handcrafted-pleasure and space-based annotations as gently pictured by Timo. In this case, it's less a matter of capturing spatial memories... well now it made me think of what Anne blogged about today... :)