One needs to wake up exceptionally early to catch the Easter Bunny or Santa Claus, and so it is with the Clintonville Yarn Bomber.



Before the sun comes up the mysterious bomber travels the neighborhood, head adorned with a miner’s light, coffee in one hand and a yarn creation in the other, ready to give a pop of playfulness to a chosen spot on a telephone pole, tree trunk or fence.



Once daylight arrives, her latest artwork is on full display: a grinning Grinch and a noble nutcracker at Christmas, pastel bunnies for Easter, red-and-white hearts for Valentine’s Day, a grass-green leprechaun hat for St. Patty’s Day.



But the Yarn Bomber is nowhere in sight.



Only a select few people know her name, and she’d like to keep it that way. She’ll remain anonymous for this story at her request, because that’s part of the fun of being a yarn bomber.



But she didn’t hesitate to share her transformation from a typical Clintonville resident to the secretive, civilly disobedient bomber.



She first saw yarn bombing, she said, in Yellow Springs, and decided to try it in Clintonville to brighten up a stretch of chain-link fence along North High Street near Overbrook ravine. Those first creations – solid bands around the telephone poles in front of the fence in 2016 – soon were complemented by weavings, compliments of children in art classes at Paper Moon Art Studio across the street.



Soon, the Clintonville Discussion Forum on Facebook was lighting up with comments – mostly glowing – about the whimsical creations.



“I was just doing it for me, but then I started seeing on the forum that people were enjoying it,” said the bomber.

“I thought that anything that slowed the traffic down on that stretch was good.”



Then, just as suddenly as the yarn bombs had gone up, they were gone. Someone had complained, anonymously, to the city and a city crew had removed them. It turned out, she said, that putting yarn bombs along a street right-of-way without permission isn’t allowed under public safety rules.



That, however, hasn’t stopped the yarn bomber.



Her grandmother, a flapper in the 1920s, had taught her to knit and crochet when she was 8 years old. The yarn bomber imagined her granny would be delighted with yarn bombs.



So, she continued her installations, enjoying the creativity involved, the social validation and the mental health aspect of seeing a project through from the beginning to the end.



She’s talked, anonymously, to officials in the city’s public safety department about the bombings.



“They said they don’t seek out violations but if they receive complaints they have to act on them,” she said. “Really, the city’s been great.”



Sometimes, the yarn bombs stay up for weeks or months. Sometimes the bomber herself removes them because they’ve gotten dirty and unsightly. Other times, the city removes them. Sometimes residents notice city crews cutting them down and rescue the creations.



Last October, the yarn bomber and some friends created the Overbrook Monster Mash – an art installation along the North High Street fence at Overbrook Drive – and invited residents to hang up their creations. The group paid a $40 fee and got a permit for the work to stay up for three weeks.



Cheered by plenty of participation and hundreds of online compliments, they hope to make the event an annual one.



The yarn bomber’s work has become so popular that residents have asked her to create “bombings” for special occasions – and to pay her for the work.



That’s how the Facebook page Bee’s Knees Yarn Bombs came about. If someone wants a yarn bombing, they fill out a form and request a quote – all through a third party so the yarn bomber doesn’t blow her cover – and the process proceeds from there. Commissioned work so far has included a tree hanging to celebrate a wedding anniversary and a marriage proposal attached to a telephone pole.



“I can’t believe people are willing to pay for it,” marveled the modest yarn bomber. “But it’s hot and trendy right now.”



Still, as recently as Feb. 21, the yarn bomber got a letter from the Columbus Department of Public Service warning her that, “ ‘yarn bombs’ installed within the public right of way” are a violation of City Code 902.02.



Michael Liggett, community relations coordinator in the public service department, said the department is taking a “reactionary response” to the yarn bombs, taking them down only if someone complains.



“We’re not actively hunting these things down,” Liggett said. He added the department would like to find “some kind of solution where they might still be able to display their work so it’s not in the public right of way.”



But the yarn bomber plans to persist.



“My sense of civil disobedience is great enough that I’m not going to stop,” she said. In fact, she’d be happy if others would try a yarn bomb or two.



“I would be so tickled to see anyone else doing it,” she said. “Clintonville could be so fun with so many installations.”