A meditation on colour and yarn
- Kristin weaves colourful textiles with vintage knitting machines
- She works primarily with natural wool, linen and cotton
- Inspiration comes from the natural world and her garden in particular
Kristin Gereau creates creatively hand dyed scarves and wraps on vintage 1980s metal knitting machines. Her process involves hand manipulating her knitting machines row by row, bringing in her intuition and sense of shape to create fabric pieces with geometric patterns and a variety of woven styles. Kristin’s creative path began when she moved back to the Midwest with no clear plan after studying textiles at Rhode Island School of Design. A friend who ran a yarn shop suggested that she should try selling at art fairs. Twenty years later, that advice has served Kristin well, and her pieces now sell through museum shops and galleries across the USA. She has built a full dye studio in the basement of her Wisconsin home, with induction burners for boiling dye water and multiple washing machines for felting. Kristin works alone, largely at night, listening to audiobooks. “I never want to stop creating and if I am lucky, I will not have to,” she says.
INTERVIEW
My knitting machine is not automated. I push a carriage back and forth by hand, knitting row by row rather than stitch by stitch, and constantly move needles to create various shapes and patterns. It becomes a meditative process. But these machines are finicky and everything can fall apart for no reason, usually after midnight!
I started dyeing my own yarn when the pandemic shut everything down, and I will never go back. It has become my favourite part of the process. I like being in total control of colour. One technique I love is ice dyeing, where I bunch a finished scarf, pile ice on top and add dye powder. As the ice melts, it creates a watercolour effect.
I find a lot of inspiration in my garden. Last year, I matched yarn colours to whatever was growing. It was a fun challenge. My neighbour is a beekeeper, so I plant flowers for her bees. I am already thinking about what to plant to achieve natural dyes, in addition to the synthetic dyes I already use.
Do not let anyone say you cannot do it or that you cannot make a living from doing it. It took years for my family to stop asking when I was going to get a real job. Keep making and you will find your outlet. You will find your people.
