Cherry blossom image from Bryan Costin

Help Mandy and Leanne of yarnbombing.com yarn bomb a historic landmark and raise awareness for Joy Kogawa House (Vancouver, B.C.)! Attend or send in your knitted or crocheted blossoms to contribute!

Joy Kogawa, one of Canada’s most beloved writers, lived in the house as a child until her family was forced into the Japanese internment camps that Canada erected during the Second World War. During this time, her family lost their belongings and the house. After the expropriation, Joy used the house and her cherry tree in her fiction which has a central place within Canadian literature. The house was recently saved as a heritage site and will serve as a residency for writers.

They’ve worked with the gardener at Joy Kogawa House to ensure that it is safe to bomb Joy’s historic cherry tree during the winter. The fuzzy community creation will stay up until early spring, and then be cut away so that it can blossom naturally. They’d love for you to join them or to mail in some cherry blossoms to add to the tree!

Here is the official press release with details:

Yarn Bombing at Historic Joy Kogawa House

Help writing blossom at Historic Joy Kogawa House! Join (Leanne Prain and Mandy Moore, co-authors of yarnbombing.com and the book Yarn Bombing: The Art of Crochet and Knit Graffiti), as they cover the Joy Kogawa cherry tree in hundreds of knitted blossoms.

You are invited to come and knit or crochet pink cherry blossoms to help cover this historic tree, whose story is told in Joy Kogawa’s Naomi’s Tree, a picture book about friendship. Knitters and crocheters of all levels are welcome to attend these FREE events.

Join one of these two community knit-ins at the Historic Joy Kogawa House, 1450 West 64th Avenue, Vancouver, on:

Sunday, January 23, 2 to 3:30pm
Saturday, February 5, 2 to 3:30pm

Or help to stitch all of the cherry blossoms into place at Historic Joy Kogawa House on:
Sunday, March 6, 2 to 3:30pm

Leanne and Mandy will entertain stitchers with daring tales of yarn bombing feats from around the world, books will be available for sale and signing, and refreshments will be served. Yarn and needles will be provided; however, donations of pink yarn are appreciated!

Can’t make it to the event? Mail in your knitted or crocheted cherry blossoms to be added to the tree, as follows:

Historic Joy Kogawa House
1450 West 64th Avenue
Vancouver, B.C. Canada V6P 2N4

Or drop your blossoms in the covered bin you’ll find just down the steps from the sidewalk in front of the house at 1450 West 64th Avenue. Submissions will be accepted up until March 1, 2011. All cherry blossoms should be made out of pink yarn.

For more information see www.kogawahouse.com