This article is part of FT Globetrotter’s guide to New York City
I started knitting because I had to stop reading the news. To keep my hands busy and occupy my mind during the first pandemic winter. The focus it demanded drew me in. I wanted to immerse myself in the steady repetition of the stitches, in the incremental construction of an object.
The first thing I knitted was a chunky, duck-egg blue scarf for my flatmate, Holly. (Thankfully, it passed muster: five years later, they still wear it.) Scarves led to hats, to socks, to sweaters; knitting led to sewing. Along the way, I learned how to pay attention — to the construction of garments, but also to their history and heritage. I fell in love with textile art.
Above and right: visitors to Judy Chicago’s installation, ‘The Dinner Party’, are greeted by six five-foot-high woven banners, created between 1974 and 1979. © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society, New York. Photo: Donald Woodman
Now on permanent display at the Brooklyn Museum, ‘each one features a line from Chicago’s vision for a more equal world’ © Judy Chicago/Artists Rights Society, New York. Photo: Donald Woodman
