Knitted and Crocheted
Works made from yarn or wire looped with needles or a hook, from traditional knitwear and lace to sculpture and installation.
No works indexed yet · 10 related artists
No open-access works for Knitted and Crocheted are in the index yet. They will appear here as more collections are indexed.
About
Knitting builds a fabric from rows of interlocking loops worked on two or more needles. Some of the earliest true knitted pieces are patterned cotton socks from Islamic Egypt, around the 11th century. Crochet, made with a single hook, pulls one loop through another and spread widely in the 19th century; during the Irish famine, crocheted lace became a source of income for many families. Regional styles such as Shetland lace, Fair Isle colourwork and Aran cables carry local identity.
Artists turned these domestic skills into sculpture. Ruth Asawa looped wire into hanging, transparent forms from the late 1940s, and Xenobia Bailey crochets vivid mandalas. Joana Vasconcelos covers large objects and animals in handmade lace, and Mark Newport knits full-size superhero costumes to question masculinity. Look for tension, stitch regularity and how the maker turns a flexible technique into a shape that holds.
