The giant Pohutakawa tree on Hobsonville Point Road (near the Sunderland Avenue intersection) is once again standing taller and more colourful than ever roughly a year after its old knitting was removed to make way for its “new look”.

Alison Milne was commissioned by HLC to dress the tree for a second time around. She led a group of 19 strong local volunteers, many of whom were involved in the original tree knitting project 3 years ago. Together, the group have been designing and knitting away for the larger part of the past year. Parts of the tree that required knitting were measured and allocated, however, each knitter was free to choose their own pattern for their particular piece.

On Saturday, 25 November, 12 volunteers pieced the individual knitted pieces together to form the overall ‘tree cosy’.

See a time lapse video of the antics here.

Knitted graffiti - or 'yarn bombing' as it's also known - is a form of "soft subversion" and humour, and in the case of HP’s best-dressed tree, no opportunity for fun and ingenuity was missed. Spot where the giant tree trunk offers ‘free hugs’ knitted across with its woolly arms protruding out. Smaller details like frills around lost tree limbs, knitted animals and other critters along the branches are intended to fascinate and delight the passersby. The tree ‘skirt’ consists of hundreds of individually braided and spun pieces of colourful yarn – many of which were made by students at the local Hobsonville Point Secondary School.

The soft and stretchy natural fibres of the wool will give-way to the tree’s growth, making it an excellent material to work with in this regard. Like the installation before, this tree cosy is anticipated to for last around two years, with the disassembled pieces taken to SPCA to make for some very colourful bed linings in winter. 

 

 

Best dressed tree2