Knitted Objects

in 1987, Mike Kelley created an artwork called 'More Love Hours than Can Ever Be Repaid', which is a large wall piece comprised of found handmade creatures and knitted blankets. Despite the individual objects being bright and jovial, the piece as a whole has a poignant atmosphere. As the title highlights, hundreds of hours have been spent making the objects to gift to loved ones, but they eventually became charity shop donations. To me there is a sense that childhood objects deplete in value as we grow up and forget our happy memories of them- or as a child, the novelty of a new toy simply wears off. 

As part of my research, I have been photographing knitted objects that I have found in charity shops, which is where Mike Kelley sourced his. I found quite a large amount in the Sue Ryder charity shop and made this picture collage like I did with the ceramic cats:





These objects give me feelings of nostalgia because my elderly relatives used to knit clothes and toys for me and my cousins, and it makes me sad that we probably didn't realise how much time and care was put into them. To get a better understanding of this, I have learnt to read knitting patterns and am recreating a knitted lamb that was made by my grandma, as we inherited the pattern from her. The process is quite therapeutic because it is repetitive and keeps me occupied for a while, and it feels fulfilling when I complete a component of the lamb - all that's left to do now is sew the pieces together and stuff it. Doing this has given me a real appreciation of the tradition of knitting and the amount of effort that goes into it - it makes Mike Kelley's piece all the more powerful.

I drew some of the creatures in my sketchbook, where I used scribbly thread-like lines with fineliner to give a sense of playfulness and physical softness, then added colour with marker pens which I think are inherently childish. Even the smell of the pens takes me back to childhood, and I thought they would be the most fitting medium to use due to the connotations of youth


My mum taught me how to knit, and she learned from her mum, so there's a warm feeling of generational tradition and domesticity that comes with it. Having the skill passed down through generations mirrors the passing down of heirlooms and handmade gifts - plus it is something that can be forgotten unless it remains in this cycle - so overall it ties in with my project really well.

Grandma's version of the lamb


The original pattern


My version in progress - the legs, ears, tail and head gusset

The two pieces of the body

Lastly, I bought this second hand book which has lots of knitting patterns for small toys. The visuals reminded me of the period I grew up in so I felt quite drawn to it; I think it will be a good challenge to try making some of the toys and work more on my knitting skills.



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