Yarn bombers weave woolly magic in Northern Ireland

Yarn-bombing is sweeping the world right now and if you haven't got in on the act what's stopping you?

Armed with crochet needles and scissors, a team of masked women got to work on the promenade in Newcastle, County Down last Friday in order to weave their woolly magic.

The Secret Outside Crocheters and Knitters (SOCK) sewed together woollen panels over fences, benches, tree trunks and a public art to create knitted and crocheted sculptures.

An anonymous SOCK member, who was wearing a woolly mask at the time to disguise her identity, told the BBC: "We have been planning to yarn bomb Newcastle for some time."

"It brightens up everybody's day and it shows knitting and crocheting as a different kind of craft rather than what your granny did making jumpers. It's a bit quirky," she added.

The group is made up of mostly Newcastle-based knitting enthusiasts, who meet him up every week to practice their craft and plot new 'hits'.

Another SOCK member, who was wearing a knitted dog's head mask, told reporters: "It's a nice creative mixture. Everyone has their own ideas of what they want to do. Socially it's wonderful to meet everyone at the group and to share the creativity between each other.

"You feel wonderful because you have been able to make all this lovely stuff and everyone who sees it thinks it's great."

The knitted decorations won’t be scooped up until a few days later, that is if they're still there.

Anything left over is to be taken down and donated to a local charity that's involved in children's art projects.

This latest yarn-bombing exercise coincided with the Newcastle Arts Festival, which took place last weekend, bringing together local theatre, art, music, dance and comedy at the foot of the beautiful Mourne Mountains.