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Shabby Sheep Owner Ronda Van Dyk Does Custom Yarn Bombings

Ronda Van Dyk is surrounded by yarn day after day as owner of the Shabby Sheep Yarn Boutique in Uptown. It's a full-time job for the Park Cities mom, and yet she finds spare time to surround other people with yarn in their homes, offices, living rooms ... pretty much everywhere.

For Van Dyk, no surface is off limits for her brand of home decor — yarn bombing. 

"I spent an entire day — ten hours — working on this one girl's room," Van Dyk said. She was chatting with me while weaving a hula-hoop loom with bright and textured scrap yarn. The finished project would be the top of an over-sized ottoman she was covering — nay, bombing — for a client.

Yarn bombing is relatively new to Dallas, and Van Dyk, along with professional yarn bomber K Witta, have plenty of clients dying to have their homes and landscapes bombed with the best of them. The group, which coordinates mainly through FaceBookyarn bomed the outside of the AT&T Performing Arts Center. The project celebrated the opening of "Hair," a 60s-themed musical.

Van Dyk, a member of the quaint and illicit Dallas Yarn Bombers, helped bring the cute and crafty crocheted and knitted adornments to the trees of Klyde Warren Park before its grand opening. 

"It's all very, very whimsical," Van Dyk said. "It's a way to kick things up a notch."

While it was a blast installing the project, the knitted tree sweaters and critters have since been taken down.

"They were starting to get a little grimey and worn," she said. "It did its job and it got people talking and people got engaged."

If you missed the Klyde Warren Park installation, don't fret. Van Dyk says she and K Witta will have another project at Old City Park this spring. The Dallas Yarn Bombers are also in talks with the city of Dallas to do more installations to cozy things up a bit.

Of course, if yarn bombing is not your thing, the Shabby Sheep has tons more community events for experienced and novice knitters alike. Van Dyk organizes a weekly knitting circle at Klyde Warren Park on Tuesdays at from 1 to 3 p.m. If you can't get away during the day, every Thursday evening from 6 to 8 p.m. is "P.J.s and Purls," an open knit night at the Shabby Sheep. 

 

Ronda Van Dyk
Ronda Van Dyk Chair
Ronda Van Dyk Bed
Ronda Van Dyk Ottoman
Friday, 25 January 2013