ASTOUNDING New Photos!

It's always aggravating, when compiling a book that includes photographs, to decide which ones stay and which ones go. This was certainly the case with Astounding Knits! So abundant were the pictures sent in by some contributors that a good number of favorites were tragically consigned to the surplus folder. Luckily, thanks to the miracle of modern technology, I can share them with you here.

Below are two new additions to this post, from a great favorite artist in our house among both resident and visiting kids and husbands, Mark Newport. If you've seen the book, you've already been introduced to his knitted Batman and Argyleman suits. Now I present...

Sweaterman 6, 2010...

...And W man, 2009. Photos courtesy of the artist

Alle Honde

I'll admit it, I'm a sucker for miniatures, which is why I've written about the work of Dutch micro-knitter Annelies de Kort on several occasions. In the book, I wanted to focus on the absolute smallest of her knitting, which meant that the strange and joyful context of her work was missing. Such as with the above collection of her knitted coats for wee dachshunds, and the small figure, below, which has been cast into a dollhouse-ian terrarium. Has she leapt from a great height of inches, or is she just sunbathing?

Garden. Photos courtesy of Annelies de Kort.

Visitors to Susette Newberry's blog have watched in fascination as over the years, she's stitched up all the letters of the alphabet, using her rabid interest in the history of typography as a jumping off point. It all starts with A, for artichoke (Cynara scolymus), of course; although in the book, this gorgeous specimen lost out to J is for Jacquard, Q is for Quatrefoil and T is for Turkey.

Photo (c) Susette Newberry, unionpurl.blogspot.com

I've written almost as often about the work of Australia-based artist Helen Pynor as I have about that of de Kort (you can find my Twist Collective article here). And while the book focused exclusively on the organs that Pynor stitched up using human hair as her medium, she has knit other things as well, such as the "hair shirts" (my term - must be my Catholic upbringing) below.

Exhale, 2005

Pynor working with knitted hair. Photos by Danny Kildare, courtesy of the artist and Dominick Mersch Gallery, Sydney

Last but not least, who doesn't love a bit of crocheted phantasmagoria? Here, two examples from German sculptor Patricia Waller, whose slightly more gory work graced the pages of the book.

Elephant

Antlers. Photos (c) Patricia Waller