San Francisco artist’s crochet creations making Noe Valley a little less stuffy

By Itay Hod

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco neighborhood’s growing menagerie of crochet animals populating the trees has residents talking. 

For as long as he can remember, Huib Petersen has been dealing with an all-consuming addiction to creating things out of yarn. 

“I can do this kind of needle craft about eight or nine hours a day,” he said.  

It started off innocently enough. Before long, Petersen was hooked. 

It was during the 2016 presidential election that Petersen, a jewelry designer who lives in Noe Valley, found a way to spin his yarn addiction into a force for good. 

“The outside world started to become a little more threatening, and I wanted to do something to make that world outside friendlier,” Petersen said.  

He went out on a limb, quite literally. Petersen started  crocheting exotic animals and placing them on tree branches up and down his street. He first planted some owls, and then added a few monkeys. Soon came a sloth, some crabs, even friendly neighborhood spiders.  

“You walk through the street and maybe you’re having a hard day and then suddenly there’s a crochet opossum looking at you from the tree. That makes the world a little lighter,” Petersen said with a laugh. 

But it’s what happened next that that took him completely by surprise. With each new installation, more and more neighbors began to talk. Soon the whole street was buzzing over a shared curiosity about these colorful intruders. 

“It does make you feel like more of an old-fashioned neighborhood in a city where it can be hard to connect with people,” said Robyn McGrath, one of Petersen’s next-door neighbors.  

On a cool August day, Petersen added a cricket to his growing zoo. He said he hopes his creations will make people to look up, slow down a bit and maybe even say hello.  

“I think what my funny little crocheted animals did was create a little more of a neighborhood. And I think that is art,” Petersen explained.   

Petersen said it’s a powerful reminder that sometimes all it takes to bring people together is some yarn and a little imagination.