Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe Knitters spin a new yarn for streetscapes SACRAMENTO, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A cozy alternative to graffiti is popping up in public places around the world: "yarn bombs," knitters in the United States report. Advertisement Knitted street art has wrapped such disparate spots as a "Keep Off Median" sign in Berkeley, Calif.; a parking meter in Seattle and a phone booth in London, The Sacramento (Calif.) Bee reports. A Berkeley knitter calling herself "Streetcolor" is claiming the tagging of a pole outside Sacramento's Crocker Art Museum. The museum embraced the addition. "It's not hurting anyone," said executive director Lial Jones. "And it's cool." If the craze has an inventor, it may be artist Magda Sayeg, who attached the first yarn bomb five years ago to the door of a boutique she owned in Houston. She wanted to "add some color and fun to the city's dark, concrete winter landscape," she said. Advertisement Sayeg started a club whose members took old, half-finished knitting projects and wrapped them around "urban furniture." Unsure at first if it was legal, they worked at night. Since 2007, Sayeg's work has been commissioned, including pieces this year at the Lusso Essenziale festival in Rome and the Austin City Limits music festival. Woman, 89, gets associate's degree PALM BEACH, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- A Florida woman is preparing to receive her degree from Palm Beach State College with a 3.96 grade-point average -- at the age of 89, school officials said. Catherine Photos is set to don her cap and gown Monday to be handed the Associate in Arts degree she's started working on in 2001, six years after her husband of almost 50 years died, The Palm Beach (Fla.) Post reported. "I felt why am I sitting home doing nothing," she said. "You just don't know how content I am that I went to college." "She's tough," her daughter Ilene, in town from Washington for the ceremony, said. "When my mother puts her mind to something, she does it." Photos said she never gave up on the dream of a college degree, but marriage in 1946, running a private swim club in Pennsylvania, operating a bar and grill in Detroit, owning four McDonald's restaurants in Maine and raising three children all kept her too busy, the newspaper said. Advertisement The skills learned in her long working life prepared her for eventual college career, she said. "I helped run businesses. I worked with people. I solved problems. That gave me the tools I needed." Photos says she isn't finished yet and will transfer to Florida Atlantic University next month to begin work on a bachelor's degree in English. Men rescue trapped deer, get fined BALTIMORE, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- Two Maryland men who rescued a deer trapped in a frozen river say they were each fined $90 for not having life vests in the boat used to get to the animal. Sgt. Brian Albert of the Maryland Department of Natural Resources Police said about 5 p.m. Thursday a 911 caller reported a deer stuck in the ice of the Patapsco River, The Baltimore Sun reported. A Department of Natural Resources Police officer and a crew from the Baltimore County fire department were dispatched on scene and started talking the situation over, Albert said. "The river there, I'm told, is probably over 100 feet wide, maybe a little wider," Albert said, noting the deer was "out toward the middle" of the river, which "more than likely has some current." Advertisement "The Fire Department was kind of game-planning what they would do," Albert said. "With Natural Resources Police, we will attempt, but we are not going to risk a human life for a deer life, as cruel as that may sound." Two men, Khalil Abusakran and Jim Hart, concurrently driving by the scene decided to do something about it "The deer was stuck and couldn't get up off the ice," Abusakran, 33, said. So Hart got in Abusakran's inflatable boat moving into the frozen water using shovels and oars to break open a wide section of ice to free the deer who appeared pregnant, the newspaper said Saturday. The deer was released into Baltimore Highlands Park and the men were each issued $90 citations for not having personal flotation devices on board though Abusakran said he did have them and told the Natural Resources officer numerous times. Hart said many people have contacted him, offering to pay the fine, but he said that's not the point and he and Hart will fight the citations in court Feb. 18. Hallelujah flash mob delights airport ORLANDO, Fla., Dec. 19 (UPI) -- The organizers of a seemingly spontaneous outbreak of singing at Orlando (Fla.) International Airport say plenty of planning went into the flash mob event. Advertisement About 120 people quietly gathered in the airport terminal late Saturday and, on cue, broke out in the Christmas classic Hallelujah chorus from Handel's "Messiah." The Orlando Sentinel said Sunday the performance was a joint effort of the United Arts of Central Florida, who enlisted the cooperation of the airport management and the Transportation Security Administration well in advance. "Don't just show up," said Margot Knight, president of the organization. An undercover conductor was stationed on a second-floor balcony to lead the singing, which was received with a hearty round of applause from the scores of travelers who had been waiting for flights. "We've done entertainment with the airport for 20 years," said Knight, who added Saturday was their first foray into flash mobs.
