Knitting

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Michigan Artist Knits a Safe House

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safe house knit installationLife has not been easy for artist and knitter Annie Eckrich. After her parents divorced and her mom stopped receiving child support, the family’s home was foreclosed on when she was 16. They spent some time floating from place to place, even living in their car sometimes.

She developed an eating disorder, and her mom taught her to knit to cope with all that was going on.

Now 22, she’s health and a recent graduate of Kalamazoo College, with a major in art and art history. She’s still knitting and recently completed “Safe House,” a 9.5 foot square, 13 foot tall structure made of knitting and complete with a knit couch, knit mailbox and baskets of wool roving for decor.

The piece has been installed — with Annie inside it — at the Urban Institute of Contemporary Arts, where it is part of the ArtPrize competition, the winner of which will receive $20,000.

This is a great story about the power of art and knitting and we wish Annie luck!

[Photo by Jennifer Ackerman-Haywood via MLive.com.]

Comments

  1. $200,000!! I sure hope she gets it. I love it, and her story is touching. I think she could make and sell these things.

  2. I hope she wins! I wonder if she has thought of taking pictures of just the wall knitting for wall paper. I would love to have a knitted wall paper!

Have you read?

Knit a Classic Aran Cardigan with this Free Knitting Pattern

Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time. 

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring. 

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn. 

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row. 

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves. 

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body. 

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy. 

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn. 

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]