I was inspired by some knitting that I was doing for myself making a scarf and always wanted to scale it up and using alternative materials. I used to knit a lot as a child and somehow lost the making when I went off to university. As a child I just simply got on with it and having no fear, you didnt care if you dropped a stitch or 2, but it was the only way to get better...a lesson I could learn from now! Not fearing failure.
 |
| Scarf Beginnings |
Knitting has its own structure and system, codes of making....K1, P1 etc and also consists of individual building blocks, i.e, the looped stitches. I was interested in translating this into a different building block in terms of interiors and architecture, another area I am interested in. Architectural lines have crept into my work previously when I used branches and waste plastic to knit.
Additionally, I was interested to read how knitting is seen as a 'feminine' hobby whilst it actually began as an activity undertaken by men, i.e. when shepherds were tending their flocks. Intertwining these different yarns (no pun intended!), I knitted with waste bags a rather large mass thinking about space - interior and domestic space and the placement of the individual within that space.
I initially liked this idea - contorting the mass to look like a woman reclining on a sofa, with the needles acting like the shoulders.
 |
| 'Reclining maid', Plastic Bags |
I then decided to settle for my piece to be a knitted door - the obstacle, the obstruction or the opportunity!
 |
| 'Knit in, Knit out' , Plastic bags. 195cm x 76cm |
With my work often mutating into different forms and my fascination with an ever changing art work, let's see what this piece becomes in its next life!
