Skip to content
1981
Volume 14, Issue 2
  • ISSN: 2040-4689
  • E-ISSN: 2040-4697

Abstract

Knitted fabric is a part of everyday life for many, whether it be worn, made or metaphorically referenced. It can also be, when critically considered, an expressive practice with philosophical merit. The ostensibly simple looping of yarns into a continuous surface suggests conceptual depth through poetic comparisons to processes of living and storytelling, among others. The practice-led research project ‘Stranded colourwork: Meaning-making through experimental knitting practices’ worked to define the intrinsic qualities of knitting that make it meaningful, and to uncover its expressive potential as an experimental artistic practice. Through the creation of a series of figurative machine-knit artworks, the confluence of knitting and narrative created an opportunity to study the implications of stitched life. This article elucidates the theoretical framework behind the project and focuses on knittedness, a concept proposed through the research. Knittedness refers to the specific aesthetic and technical qualities inherent to the process, and how these qualities can become symbolically significant both in art making and in finding meaning and connection in life. The idea of pixelness is also proposed as an integral part of knitting and other pixelated processes, where the process and aesthetic quality is informed by a repetitive technical structure. These concepts can be expanded to advocate for a notion of craftedness, suggesting the value of determining the idiosyncratic expressivity of individual creative practices, and how a maker might use this knowledge to create technique-focused work and find new appreciation for the process.

Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00108_1
2023-11-28
2025-12-12
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Aktaş, Bilge (2018), ‘Material as the co-designer: Exploring a new practice in the nature and at the studio’, Research in Arts and Education, 2018:3, pp. 33248.
    [Google Scholar]
  2. Arantes, Lydia Maria (2020a), ‘Unraveling knitting: Form creation, relationality, and the temporality of materials’, Journal of American Folklore, 133:528, pp. 193204.
    [Google Scholar]
  3. Arantes, Lydia Maria (2020b), ‘On knitted surfaces-in-the-making’, in M. Anusas and C. Simonetti (eds), Surfaces: Transformations of Body, Materials and Earth, London: Routledge, pp. 15266.
    [Google Scholar]
  4. Arantes, Lydia Maria (2021), ‘On the desired absence of knowledge: Knitting ethnography and navigating diaries’, in L. Di Puppo, M. D. Frederiksen and F. Martínez (eds), Peripheral Methodologies: Unlearning, Not-Knowing and Ethnographic Limits, London: Routledge, pp. 6380.
    [Google Scholar]
  5. Birnbaum, Paula (2008), ‘Elaine Reichek: Pixels, bytes, and stitches’, Art Journal, 67:2, pp. 1835, http://www.jstor.org/stable/40598940. Accessed 13 January 2023.
    [Google Scholar]
  6. Buchczyk, Magdalena (2020), ‘Making certainty and dwelling through craft’, Journal of American Folklore, 133:528, pp. 17892.
    [Google Scholar]
  7. Deleuze, Gilles and Guattari, Félix (1987), A Thousand Plateaus: Capitalism and Schizophrenia (trans. B. Massumi), London: Bloomsbury.
    [Google Scholar]
  8. Fisk, Anna (2017), ‘“So that you’ve got something for yourself”: Knitting and implicit spirituality’, in L. Doggett and A. Arat (eds), Foundations and Futures in the Sociology of Religion, London: Routledge, pp. 13348.
    [Google Scholar]
  9. Ingold, Tim (2007), Lines: A Brief History, London: Routledge.
    [Google Scholar]
  10. Ingold, Tim (2010), ‘The textility of making’, Cambridge Journal of Economics, 34:1, pp. 91102, https://www.jstor.org/stable/24232023. Accessed 10 December 2020.
    [Google Scholar]
  11. Ingold, Tim (2017), Correspondences, Aberdeen: University of Aberdeen.
    [Google Scholar]
  12. Kenning, Gail (2015), ‘Creative craft-based textile activity in the age of digital systems and practices’, Leonardo, 48:5, pp. 45056.
    [Google Scholar]
  13. Mäkelä, Maarit (2007), ‘Knowing through making: The role of the artefact in practice-led research’, Knowledge, Technology & Policy, 20:3, pp. 15763.
    [Google Scholar]
  14. Mäkelä, Maarit (2016), ‘Personal exploration: Serendipity and intentionality as altering positions in a creative process’, FormAkademisk, 9:1, https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.1461.
    [Google Scholar]
  15. Mäkelä, Maarit and Nimkulrat, Nithikul (2018), ‘Documentation as a practice-led research tool for reflection on experiential knowledge’, FormAkademisk, 11:2, https://doi.org/10.7577/formakademisk.1818.
    [Google Scholar]
  16. Nilsson, Malin (2022), ‘Introduction continuity and change: Gender, place, and skill formation in home-based production’, in M. Nilsson, I. Mazumdar and S. Neunsinger (eds), Home-Based Work and Home-Based Workers (1800–2021), Leiden: Brill, pp. 2730.
    [Google Scholar]
  17. Nimkulrat, Nithikul (2009), Paperness: Expressive Material in Textile Art from an Artist’s Viewpoint, Helsinki: University of Art and Design Helsinki.
    [Google Scholar]
  18. Pajaczkowska, Claire (2005), ‘On stuff and nonsense: The complexity of cloth’, Textile, 3:3. pp. 22049.
    [Google Scholar]
  19. Pedgley, Owain (2007), ‘Capturing and analysing own design activity’, Design Studies, 28:5, pp. 46383.
    [Google Scholar]
  20. Price, Laura (2015), ‘Knitting and the city’, Geography Compass, 9:2, pp. 8195.
    [Google Scholar]
  21. Puig de la Bellacasa, María (2015), ‘Making time for soil: Technoscientific futurity pace of care’, Social Studies of Science, 45:5, pp. 69116.
    [Google Scholar]
  22. Robins, Freddie (2018), ‘In conversation with Freddie Robins’, interviewed by C. Cameron, Knitting Industry Creative, 1 October, https://www.knittingindustry.com/creative/in-conversation-with-freddie-robbins/. Accessed 3 May 2020.
  23. Schön, Donald (1983), The Reflective Practitioner: How Professionals Think in Action, London: Maurice Temple Smith.
    [Google Scholar]
  24. Stalp, Marybeth and Winge, Theresa (2017), ‘If at first you don’t succeed, rip it out and try again: The benefits of failure among DIY handcrafters’, Clothing Cultures, 4:2, pp. 87104.
    [Google Scholar]
  25. Steed, Josephine (2012), ‘Unravel: Revaluing the craft of knitting for new emergent design contexts within a post-industrial world’, Making Futures, 2, pp. 297306.
    [Google Scholar]
  26. Turney, Joanne (2009), The Culture of Knitting, Oxford: Berg.
    [Google Scholar]
  27. Von Busch, Otto (2013), ‘Zen and the abstract machine of knitting’, Textile, 11:1, pp. 619.
    [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00108_1
Loading
/content/journals/10.1386/crre_00108_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): becoming; craft; machine-knitting; practice-led research; textile art; yarn
This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test