Yarnbombers caught thread-handed in Santa Rosa

Busted.

Donna Katen, a staffer at downtown Santa Rosa’s landmark Pedersen’s Furniture, spotted something peculiar happening out on Fifth Street.

She stepped to the curb Tuesday morning and came eyeball to eyeball with two women surely violating one or more municipal-code ordinances by wrapping the steel post supporting a pair of parking meters with a gloriously colorful yarn sleeve.

Enchanted, Katen inquired about the random act of art. The women confessed to belonging to the Bomb Squad that has furtively yarned street-sign and meter poles in Santa Rosa, Guerneville and elsewhere.

Subsequently contacted by an inquiring newsman, the women pleaded not to be outed. They argued persuasively that it doesn’t matter what their names are, they’re simple adherents to a homespun movement to surreptitiously add a bit of color and joy to the world.

One of the Yarnbombers shared that she calls this “my smile project.”

“It makes people smile,” she said.