Jim Funderburgh rides his bike to work every day across the Schenley Bridge from his home in Squirrel Hill.

Maybe three weeks ago, he said, he saw a woman weaving yarn into the chain-link fence, "but I didn't have time to stop and talk to her."

Hye Jin Lee, a student at Carnegie Mellon University, since has created three panels of yarn, two about 5 feet tall by 4 feet wide and the middle panel somewhat smaller. One frequent passer-by described them as variations on native American dream catchers, though without feathers or dangling objects. They are shaped like some coats of arms, and the designs are geometric and multi-colored.

Walking past them yesterday, Tim Tomon, an employee at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, said, "I think it's neat. Better than what's behind it." He signaled at the moving puffs of exhaust from a heating plant between the museum complex and the bridge.

Neither the artist nor her faculty supervisor could be reached yesterday, but a staff member at the college of art said the panels were made as part of a class project.

It could not be determined whether the city, or which department of the city, signed off on the project.

Before his chief of staff tracked down the source of the creations, city Councilman Doug Shields had fun with the idea that it might have been a bit of unsanctioned expression, saying, "This is yet another example of the worsening economy" -- graffiti by yarn instead of paint, "although this seems to be more pleasing to the eye and is far easier to remove."

Mr. Funderburgh, an associate professor of ophthalmology at the University of Pittsburgh, said he is "always on the lookout for interesting evidence of self expression" when he rides his bike. "I was delighted to see these rather odd weavings appear on the bridge. They are not what anyone would call cutting edge but they are unusual, colorful and kind of perk up my bike commute."