As she prepared to move from Cole Valley to the Western Addition, Dvorit Mausner thought hard about how she wanted to say goodbye to her neighborhood.

"It's given me so much," she said. "My friends, positive stories and feelings of community. It's a hard neighborhood to leave, but you've got to move on." She's already looking forward to decorating her new apartment with her partner, "but it does feel very bittersweet to be leaving."

Dvorit Mausner and Leigh Ann Parente at work . (Photo: Ilana Minkoff)

When Mausner first moved to Cole Valley, her upstairs neighbor was knitwear designer and fiber artist Jane Yu. Over the years, the pair connected via their shared love of crafting and sewing. Yu, who now studies in Paris, was commissioned to create a textile art project at the Treasure Island Music Festival.

"They hired her to produce a yarnbomb installation over a variety of trees on the island," said Mausner. "After the festival, she removed all the yarn and brought it home, so when she moved, she had all this extra material." When Yu asked Mausner if she could put it to use, "I gladly accepted it," she said.

For years, she stored the material, but with an impending move, Mausner realized she needed to shed a few possessions.

"I thought it might be a nice idea of taking this art that was shared with me by another Cole Valley resident and sharing it it with the rest of Cole Valley as a way to celebrate what a special, charming and community-oriented neighborhood it is," said Mausner.

After seeking advice online about the legality of kniffiting the block, she decided to move forward. Mausner said she connected via Facebook with another neighbor, Leigh Ann Parente, who has a degree in textiles.

On Monday, the pair began installing Mausner's project, knitting segments of Yu's Treasure Island work around the U-shaped bicycle racks along Cole Street between Carl and Parnassus. "I give Jane Yu full credit for all the artistry in the work," she said.

Working together, they "spent an hour and a half putting them on the east side of the street, and I went back out this morning on my own to complete the rest of the project," said Mausner yesterday. 

"And, it just happened that coincidentally, today was my birthday," she added.

Mausner, whose day job is co-founder of a crowdfunded brewpub in Oakland, said she's looking forward to new projects in her new neighborhood, but they probably won't be yarn-related.

"I'm fortunate that Jane made such an abundance, since I have some left to hold onto."