Newtown residents with a mystery yarn bomber leaving crocheted ‘gifts’ that are dressing up the suburb in Sydney’s inner west.

A Christmas tree in Hollis Park has been anonymously decorated in crochet baubles while commuters walking to Macdonaldtown train station have recently been greeted with the sight of a bicycle covered in colourful crochet wool.

The person behind these “gifts” does not wish to reveal­ her identity — she calls her self “Treble Maker” after the crochet stitch she uses.

media_camera Treble Maker decorated this tree at night. media_camera A close-up of the baubles in the tree.

This much we can reveal — she’s a lawyer by day. She has a “reluctant partner in crime” and she learned to crochet at Loreto Kirribili.

“I am not looking for any recognition,” she said.

“I might put the bike somewhere and then hang around anonymously and see people smile — that can be joyous in itself.

“Once I put it there it is for the community.”

The 51-year-old said one of the greatest compliments she received was when someone sent her a picture of her crocheted bike with a text message: “This is why I like living here.”

media_camera The famed crocheted bike — now Treble maker is working on another one.

She sneaks out at night, with her reluctant partner in tow carrying a ladder and head torch to help Treble Maker swiftly get on with her work.

“He’s very grumpy about it,” she said. “Until the work is done and then he loves it.”

Her first work was a pole outside Cafe Ism on Wilson St, Newtown which she decorated­ in the French colours­ — she has since decorated another using the Chakra colours.

“It’s a new thing for me,” she said. “I saw one somewhere and went “Wow”, I’d like to do that. I started small — only the poles — but I am a bike rider and a yogi so I thought I would bring both to the community. “

Her work can be found as far afield as Pymble and even the Governor Lachlan Macquarie statue in Sydney’s Hyde Park has come in for a bit of Christmas decorating.

media_camera An early work by Treble Maker dressed up this pole. media_camera Governor Lachlan Macquarie adorned with a bauble.

Now she is covering another­ bike with bright colours and thinking about her next project.

She hopes the idea of taking the ordinary and making it extraordinary takes off.

“People walk past the bike, frown and then smile when they realise what it is,” she said.

“I just want this to be uplifting,” she said.

YARN BOMBING

■ Also known as yarn storming, guerilla knitting, kniffiti, urban knitting or graffiti knitting is a type of graffiti or street art that employs colourful displays of knitted or crocheted yarn or fibre rather than paint or chalk — according to Wikipedia.

■ The movement began in 2005 in Texas and has since spread all over the world.

■ One of the most famous yarn bombing “attacks” was a tank in front of Military Museum in Dresden, Germany.

media_camera ‘Treble Maker’ the Mystery yarn bomber of Newtown crochets away. Picture: John Appleyard

THE BICYCLE

■ The bicycle is made using the chakra colours red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple and white.

■ It took a solid week of after-hours crocheting up until midnight each to cover the bike.

■It can often be seen outside of Macdonaldtown station and in Hollis Park.

media_camera Even the pedals got some attention. media_camera The pole outside Cafe Ism on Wilson St, Newtown.

YARN BOMBING HINTS

■ Choose your pole well — for maximum viewing and under an awning to protect from the elements.

■ Use acrylic wool as it will last better in the great outdoors.

■ Choose a pole with sign on the top so you have something you can suspend the crochet from (then it won’t fall down like long socks around the ankles).

■ Use appliques for 3D effect.

■ Take a friend to act as lookout to avoid arrest (and work out getaway plan before you start).