A group of yarn bombers have once again brought a splash of colour to Weymouth harbourside - but they’ve been left disheartened after their creations were vandalised.
The Knitoholics have returned this summer with creations that give a nod to both the RNLI and local fishermen.
Just days after the creations went on display in Hope Square and surrounding streets a seagull has been removed from the top of a lighthouse on one of the works and the RNLI lifeboat man’s jacket had also been cut in what appeared to be an ‘attempt to take it.’
Cable ties have been used as a quick-fix solution, but the knitters plan to repair them.
A spokesperson for the group said: “I’m not angry, there’s no point getting worked up about it. It’s not going to stop us doing it - if that’s their aim, they have picked on the wrong group.”
The Knitoholics are an anonymous group of yarn bombers who started out as a group of friends based in Weymouth who often fill Hope Square with their beautiful creations.
A spokesperson for the group said: “We are always thinking up new things and we wanted to tie it in with summer for the children. We do it to make people happy and to make them smile.”
They wanted to tie their latest creation in with Lifeboat Week.
The spokesperson explained that ‘the knitted RNLI guy was going to hold a lifeboat, but the boat was too big’ and ‘three days before’ the creations were set to go out one of the other ladies revealed that she had made a smaller lifeboat, so they decided to make another bollard jumper and put it on there.
However, the spokesperson joked: “That meant I had to make the jumper in three days.”
The group also wanted ‘to give a nod to the local fishermen.’
In order to do so they created a bollard jumper covered in marine life with a little fishing boat on top and completed with a net.
In keeping with the theme, they created a merman, accompanied by a mermaid and their baby which the knitters named Ariel.
The group of crafters wasn’t sure whether to make further jumper bollards following an incident at Christmas when their crafts were taken.
The spokesperson said: “We were in two minds after Christmas when our bollard jumpers went missing. We got two back, one was found by the Nothe and the other in Hope Square but it was torn to shreds.
“We think that if they do get taken and we don’t put them up anymore, it means they have won.”
The group is already planning its next top-secret project to bring Hope Square alive.
Although the women who create these marvellous creations do so for free, if anybody would like to donate some wool to them, email: knitoholics.wey@mail.com
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