Pillar box topper, yarn bombing and spinning a yarn

 

Pillar box topper. Long Elmes, Harrow. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Seasonal events celebrated through the year include 

Valentine's Day (hearts), 

Easter (rabbits), 

Armistice Day (toy soldiers and members of the armed forces and crosses), 

Halloween (spiders and pumpkins) and 

Christmas (Santas).

For more see my previous posts, and the Facebook group page.

In the UK we refer to post boxes. Pillar boxes are the free standing cylindrical ones.

USA

In the USA the term used is mail box. You can buy or make covers for home mail boxes.

Yarn bombing of trees and city architecture has been popular in the USA, in Houston and other cities.

UK

You could join a Women's Institute group to make these seasonal items. Buy a pattern online. 

Home Decor

Or make a tiny one for outside a dolls' house. You could use a Champagne bottle cork, painted with red paint. 

Or a tiny one of painted pastry for the top of a birthday cake,. Or a Christmas cake or other seasonal cake.

From a photo taken from a bus of a pillar box topper in Long Elmes, I went on a journey around the internet, seeing yarn decorating trees and covering entire buildings, in Spain and other countries around the world. Yes, covering entire buildings.

I am not 'spinning a yarn'. The phrase spinning a yarn is thought to come from spinning ropes at sea, and telling tales, long stories, often far-fetched, fictional, to while away the time.

Useful Websites on Pillar Box Toppers.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/876920579707070/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarn_bombing

https://weavesandknits.com/a-gallery-of-famous-examples-of-yarn-bombing-from-around-the-world/

https://grammarist.com/idiom/spin-a-yarn/

Please follow my blog and share links to your favourite posts.

Mailbox topper in Hatch End, London, England, UK

 

Mail Box Topper in Hatch End. So cute with the dear little hedgehog perched on top. Photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

The traditional red pillar box, shaped like a pillar. Americans would say mail box. I always think of boxes being square, but I suppose you get round ones, like hat boxes and cheese boxes.

The red colour makes it British. Also the toppers.

Once you have seen one, you want to see more.

Websites on post box toppers

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yarnbombing_Los_Angeles

Please follow me for interesting things to see on your travels in real life or online. Share links to your favourite posts.

Yarn bombers on post boxes in England

 Keep your eyes open as you walk or drive around London and cities in the UK.

You never know when you might see an amusing surprise.

 Post box topper in London, in 2025. Photo by Angela Lansbury.  Copyright. 

This little post box topper was in Stanmore, Middlesex, in north west London. I have several more pictures of postbox toppers in my other posts. Wikipedia has more from all over Britain.

This can be done using knitting or crochet. 

Useful Websites

Wikipedia has pictures of yarn bombing by country.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

Please follow my blog and share links to your favourite posts.

You tube has a video telling you how to design a topping.

Postbox topper - sea lion and fish

 

Post box topper. In Hatch End. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Post box in Long Elmes, London, with knitted hat - where else, what else?

Who likes the hats on post boxes all over the UK?  They brighten the day of the postie, we used to say postman, then along came postwomen, then confusion.  the hats brighten the day of people posting letters. they brighten my day as we drive along unfamiliar streets. Spotting one is like dicvering buried treasure.

A picture from the past which I saved in drafts  because there was no internet on an H14 London bus. I dont know how we communicate in an accident, but London underground train service is better for bloggers like me. 

This knitted hat is on a postbox in Long Elmes in Harrow, North-west London, England UK. These knitted hats are on the circular red post boxes all over London. 

One has to admire the ingenuity of the knitters. The hats are not designs you could find in catalogues. I take that back.  I did a further search for mail box, post box, letter box, knitted cover, crochet cover. You can get patterns for knitted toys.  Once you have mastered or discovered patterns for animals, Santas, dice shapes for transport, doll shapes for humans, letters of the alphabet, you can get creative. 

Photo by Angela Lansbury Copyright.

They are in crochet as well as knitting. The locations are as far north as Scotland and as far south as Cornwall.

Other designs have included one for Charles III.

If you want to see more, here are some links.

Useful websites

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/graywolf_23462/crochet-post-box-toppers/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

https://www.letsknit.co.uk/free-knitting-patterns/knitted-postbox-topper

Please share links to your favourite posts.

Hat on a mail box (also known as a post box topper). Love it? DIY!

They are all over London, postbox toppers. If you want to make your own, you can find instructions from the Townwomen's Guild. A bit of fun. Harmless fun. You make the base to the size of the round or oval postbox. Then add the toppings. Topical toppings, seasonal toppings, whatever. I would add flowers for spring, and a squirrel with nuts for autumn, or autumn leaves, snow and red santas or santa and sleigh, or a reindeer, or reindeer pulling a sleigh, or even a ski slope with pine trees, in winter. Cakes in the supermarket or a book on cake decorating could give you ideas, or just copy the local scenery. Pick something traditional in your area to match a traditional box. Americans with private mail boxes at the ends of their driveways could copy this idea.https://www.the-tg.com/thingstodo/postbox-toppers/50.aspxHat on a mail box. Long Elmes road. Harrow. London. England. UK. Photo by Angela Lansbury.You can see this on the bus route from hatch End to harrow and Northwick Park Hospital, on the H14 bus. These hats decorate the mail boxes all over this part of London.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post_box_topper

Knitted or crochet hats on London's red post boxes

 

Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Link to this post

https://travelwithangelalansbury.blogspot.com/2023/06/knitted-or-crochet-hats-on-londons-red.html