Have you seen the the 36” x 80” crocheted V-O-T-E yarn bomb sign around Beacon? Since late September, Lynne Willis has been transporting this handmade crochet design to be seen throughout the city including Beahive in the Telephone Building, Beetle and Fred, and Endless Skein in Cold Spring. With early vote taking place through Sunday, November 1st, this is a nice reminder to do your civic duty.

You can catch the sign currently on display in the windows of Beacon Pantry, 328 Main Street in Beacon. The sign has already been featured on It has been featured on the design Instagram @dissent_by_design and on the front page of the Highlands Current.

Who Is Lynne WillIS?

Lynne has been a resident of Beacon for 3 years. Prior to this, she made regular weekend visits to the city and became acquainted and friendly with many of the local businesses and says she “was happy at the great response the sign got and the willingness to host in windows. Hopefully this is just one more reminder (that may bring a smile to your face) to vote.”

Crocheting For Coping With Anxiety

We all channel our anxiety and energy in different ways. Lynne found comfort and relaxation in the repetition of the crocheting. When speaking to creating her latest project, she says she “enjoyed the physicality of crocheting - feeling the yarn in my hands, the repetitious moving of the hook, and seeing the slow progress as each letter grew.”

With the election coming up, Lynne says “Knowing that this election is a vital opportunity for the people of our country to speak about what is TRULY important and bring about meaningful change; I wanted to do what I could in my own way.”

Craftivism

Crocheting has been a hobby of Lynne’s for years working on personal projects by the time the pandemic hit. She did make a pink pussy hat for the Women’s March in 2016 (yarnbombing hit Beacon for the first time in 2015) but stuck mostly to personal items and gifts. This changed back in March 2020 where Lynne explains, “Due to the pandemic, I was put on furlough back in March and suddenly found myself with lots of extra time. After sewing facemasks for friends and family, I didn’t quite know what to do with myself and my mounting anxiety about ALL the things going on in our country.” She was inspired to do more and be a part of something bigger and found mask making to be an opportunity to make a statement in public about science and safety.

Remember the crochet facemask mounted on the bust of George Washington earlier this year? That was Lynne’s handiwork, “It was very gratifying to have folks stop and admire the piece when I was installing it and to see images of my piece spread across social media including a shout out from the Daughters of the American Revolution. But, unfortunately it was taken down within three days.”

Making The V-O-T-E Sign

The VOTE sign was inspired by a Black Lives Matter crocheted yarn bomb by @nanostitches9. Lynne used the same basic method to make a small scale maquette to test yarn colors and process. “For the final sign, I scaled it up to 36” high and 20” wide for each letter. I wanted this large-scale for impact and decided to do each letter separately for ease of installation.” Lynne shares.

The lengthy crochet project gave Lynne something to focus on when feeling uptight and anxious about the current state of the world. Deciding how to design each letter using an excel spreadsheet mockup was a good design challenge, “After some trail and error, I sewed each letter onto polyester fabric and then stapled the fabric to the stretchers” she says.

Lynne’s boyfriend and professional photographer suggested mounting each letter on stretcher bars and getting local businesses to host the sign in their windows. This makes it easy to transport and allows for a variety of installation configurations. This also makes it easy to transport and to get a variety of pictures in different locations throughout Beacon.