A shopping arcade in Huddersfield will be wrapped up warm in a jumper all of its own ahead of the chilly winter months, when an ambitious charity knitting project gets under way.

The quirky ‘Yarn Bombing’ idea will see the insides of Byram Arcade covered in masses of multicoloured knits in a bid to raise money for local organisation Support to Recovery and the associated Packhorse Gallery, which promotes positive mental health and the town’s Tea & Tarts WI.

Arcade shop owners and members of the public have now been invited to submit their own piece of work to make a large community installation in time for the end of October.

The project is the brainchild of the owner of arcade’s ground floor shop, Crafty Praxis, Elisa Etemad, who was responsible for the stunning flying crane project last year that has enchanted visitors to the location.

She said: “Last year’s project raised money for the Laura Crane Youth Cancer Trust and after the success of it I decided to organise a yarn bombing installation.

“I’ve teamed up with my second floor arcade neighbour, Spun Yarn Shop, who run a weekly knitting group on Thursday mornings and this time our aim is to help raise money and awareness for S2R alongside the WI.

“Spun has a selection of yarns specifically with the project in mind, the sale of which will go towards the fund raising and any donations made will be split between the two organisations.”

Yarn bombing, or guerilla knitting, is a type of street art which uses colourful knitted displays in public places rather than paint or chalk.

It can include totally covering statues, vehicles, buildings and trees in an attempt to brighten up neighbourhoods or make socio-political points.

Famous yarn bombing examples include entirely covering the Wall Street bull, a Polish locomotive in Lodz and a military tank in Copenhagen.

Elisa said: “We want all forms of woolly work, whether knitted, crocheted, French knitted or a pom-pom-if it can be hung or if it can be strung it will be used.

“All levels of knitting will be accepted too, you definitely don’t have to be a master to take part.”

Woolly donations can be dropped off at Crafty Praxis or Spun Yarn until the end of October.