Holbrook’s submarine gets a yellow makeover

HUNDREDS of balls of yellow wool are knitting the Holbrook community together, as the towns famous submarine gets a makeover.

 

IN STITCHES: Holbrook's community are coming together to yarnbomb the towns iconic submarine. Picture: Contributed

 

 

IN STITCHES: Holbrook's community are coming together to yarnbomb the towns iconic submarine. Picture: Contributed

 

Tying together milestones – the 100th year of submarines in Australia and the 50th Anniversary of the Beatles' visit down under – Holbrook's Murray Arts Centre is creating it's very own yellow submarine.

 

While the Holbrook community might not go as far as living in the submarine, the project seems to be breathing new life into the community.

 

Project manager, Jo Bartels, said community members are knitting large yellow squares so the submarine can be "yarn bombed".

 

Yarnbombing is a trend that has grown in recent years and involves covering structures in knitted squares that are then sewn together.

 

The people of Holbrook have a big challenge on their hands, with the submarine 82 metres long and 2 metres tall.

 

"It going to be a massive undertaking," Ms Bartels said.

 

She said said the project had garnered a great deal of interest.

 

"We've had an influx of people liking our Facebook page, now we have close to 1000 likes," Ms Bartels said.

 

"Its been fantastic, it's brought mothers and daughters together and been really lovely," she said.

 

"We've even had people from England and Switzerland get involved."

 

The giant jumper is expected to be installed by June 12, with all squares handed in by May 31.

 

While there are no exact size requirements for the squares, Ms Bartels encouraged people to knit squares the size of dog blankets.

 

"Once we have finished using them on the submarine, they are going to be donated to dog shelters to be used as doggy blankets," Ms Bartels said.

 

She said recycling was common in yarn bombing projects, with some of the donated squares recycled form previous projects.

 

"People can use whatever yellow they want – we have everything from dark yellow to the really nice lemon yellow as well," Ms Bartels said.

 

School students are also encouraged to get involved by making pompoms to be stitched onto the bottom sides of the submarine to look like a crustacean.

 

Not keen to give away too much information at once, Ms Bartels said people could expect a big party when the submarine was unveiled.

 

"It's up there as one of the quirkiest projects I've ever worked with," she said.