My love affair with textiles began when I was a child. I have been involved with some form of fiber for as long as I can remember. Knitting was passed down from my grandmother to my mother to me, and, most likely this connection extends to women who lived many generations before my grandmother. After perfecting my knitting skills through exploration and practice into my early adulthood, I expanded my skills by attending fiber technique classes in spinning and dyeing. The most helpful learning experiences came from an open mind and the willingness to experiment and make mistakes.

My current work is wall-shawls and artknit sweaters which incorporate and explore the use of energized handspun yarns. These yarns use the direction and amount of twist to add angles and texture to the knitting surface. Energized yarn, in combination with the variety of surface details knitting offers, has opened a whole new area of knitting for me.

While my artknits intend to evoke remembrance and reverence for ancestral women who used their hands to clothe their families and tend their farm animals, they go beyond the concept of the sweater as a practical and purely functional warming device created out of necessity. Sweaters and shawls are seductively transformed beyond necessity into unexpected whimsy and borderline frivolity through the use of tactile materials and labor intensive hand processes.

Carded Batt

Following where my hands lead me is an exciting and ever changing adventure. I am forever grateful to my womanly heritage for blessing me with hands that instinctively know how to create beauty for others to enjoy.

Elena