The Contraption: My Muse
““working with this tool- I literally start with thread and end up with fabric!””
Just what is a knitting machine? I like to refer to it as a contraption. In physicality is comprised of a horizontal board with a series of hooks that work with a carriage to send threads across, and knit them together a row at a time. There are various types of these machines. Some a bit more analog while others are paired with computers to create complex designs. I didn’t know much about this contraption, that I now think of as my muse, until I was in the thick of my graduate studies at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, roughly 15 years ago. I was beginning to see that I was going to have trouble keeping up with hand knitting the bulk of my wearables early in my first year of grad school. The thesis work I imagined was going to need to take up some space. Then through a combination of a field trip to Skif International in nearby St. Louis and then a subsequent interest in learning how this tool could help me in my work, a workshop at Peter’s Valley Craft in New Jersey brought me face to face with my muse. It isn’t always love, as the machine can have a bit of a personality and moments of working well paired with days where nothing works.
It is however, a tool which helps me to mix my mind and body in the process of making. Due to the density of my yarn mixing I am in a full upper body workout while producing material. Because it can let me grow this material a bit more quickly than hand knitting, I find my ideas flourish at a nice pace with the object being birthed from the machine. I use my words here to also illustrate one of the things I find most fascinating about working with this tool- I literally start with thread and end up with fabric! It still kind of amazes me.
I also rather appreciate working from these rectangular shapes, or the angular shapes that sometimes result from the knitting machine. This allows me to then take the created pieces of fabric and transfer the design and styling portion of the garment making to the dress form. I much prefer to work from the body and sculpt the garment into an object that is worn in many ways. This to me is the practical end of what I aim to create. I love when a piece can be worn to suit the wearer. Maybe because when I wear things I like to have options, I want to offer the same to those who wear my pieces.