She has christened it the 'Community Car Cozy.'
It's an initiative by Mary Breen, owner of Wise Daughters Craft Market at the corner of Dundas Street West and Quebec Avenue, and a highlight of the Junction Arts Festival, which launched Wednesday, Sept. 8 and continues through the weekend of Sept. 11 and 12. Inspired by 'graffiti knitting,' a phenomenon that has taken off in England and has seen phone booths, utility poles, even bridges covered in yarn, Breen thought it would be challenging and fun to see if she and her knitting cohorts could knit a cozy large enough to cover an entire car. Volunteers will start knitting Saturday at 10 a.m. and will attempt to cover an entire Nissan Cube, donated by Auto Share. "I've always loved the idea of public art, of random acts of beauty," said Breen at her shop Tuesday morning. The car cozy will be turned into several large knitted blankets for Street Knit, an organization that puts knitting needles together to create sweaters, hats, mittens, socks and scarves for Toronto's homeless. What is a car cozy one may ask? It's a collection of six-inch and 12-inch squares that will be stitched together to completely cover the car from roof to wheels. "We'll watch the car disappear from the top down," said Breen, who expects it to be completely covered by 6 p.m. on Sunday.The festival grounds, which have been expanded this year to include Malta Park to Indian Road and will see Dundas Street West closed to traffic from Annette and Dupont streets to Runnymede Road, have been designed to provide an all-day experience, according to Robert Hilts, chair of the Junction Forum for Art and Culture, which presents the Junction Arts Festival. "We're the only festival to be able to expand this year," said Hilts. "One of the things we wanted to do was cross Keele - we wanted to incorporate that area."Some of the features Hilts wanted to highlight from the Junction Arts Festival headquarters on Dundas Street West at Pacific Avenue, was the Poetry Village and Twilight Theatre curated by award-winning poet Lllian Allen at the former McBride's Cycle site, as well as the outdoor living room, 'Sofa Sessions,' complete with couches, love seats and tables. It will provide festival patrons the opportunity to get up close and personal with headlining musicians, who will be able to play acoustically. Kevin Quinn and the Mad Bastards are headlining the main stage at Dundas Street West and Pacific."We brought in a number of curators to assist us in curating - developing their area of expertise," said Hilts. "For the kids, there are the Bee's Knees, who are Juno nominated. Although we have stages, this year the whole street is an encompassing stage where art flows from the elevated stages to ground level."Several of the businesses have been incorporated into the festival, some of which have been transformed into impromptu galleries, said Hilts. "This year, we've really focused the festival on experiencing art," he said. For further details and a full schedule and participating artists, visit www.junctionartsfest.com