Shetland artist ROXANE PERMAR describes the process of creating The Encyclopedia of Knitted Stories in St Petersburg, and a new website telling the stories in digital form.

Roxane Permar and Tatyana Nikolaenko

The Encyclopedia of Knitted Stories was a ‘symphony of collaborative knitting which took place in the Inner Courtyard of The State Museum of Urban Sculpture in St Petersburg, Russia on 4 July, 2003.  I worked in collaboration with the Russian artist, Tatyana Nikolaenko, and staff at the Museum of Urban Sculpture to realise this three-hour long festive event.

It was a cross-cultural afternoon as the event also included Scottish dancing and music played by Russian musicians, tea served from a Russian samovar and fresh strawberry trifle prepared from Russian ingredients by the Manchester artists, Emma Rushton and Derek Tyman, as part of their project Food From Elsewhere.   Everything formed part of the series of events staged by emplacements 2003 during Manchester Week.

For The Encyclopedia of Knitted Stories, we invited members of the general public to come and knit a small square, 10 cm x 10 cm.  Those who didnt know how to knit – or crochet as it turned out – were given a quick lesson.  Boys and girls and men and women of all ages showed up, approximately eighty to ninety people altogether.  We provided knitting needles and real Shetland wool, which I brought especially from Shetland, for everyone to use.

The idea for the event was inspired by The Three Graces, a live art knit work, which we are developing together with the Shetlander, Wilma Johnson.  Initially we planned to knit jumpers in factories, museums and public places in St Petersburg (in the first instance) that re-work symbols of the cultural, political and national identities of each of the three places we come from – Shetland, America and Russia.  As a symbol of the international bonds created by our work together, we used the three colours of wool – red, white and blue – represented in the flags of our countries.

The character of the word ‘to knit in Russian is significant to the meaning of the work. One linguistic root in Russian unites the concept of knitting with different ideas, including ‘to bind, connect, associate or unite; and ‘tie, bond, contact, link, relation or liaison.  Thus the word ‘to knit perhaps has greater resonance in the Russian language than it has in English, although we occasionally use the word ‘knit in contexts beyond those with direct reference to textiles.

Many people in various countries relate to the process of knitting, subconsciously feeling its strength, beauty and warmth.  An object or garment, which has been lovingly hand-knitted, implies a relationship.  Whether it has been earmarked especially for someone as a present or as a memento of an event, the history of its development suggests a whole story through its design, pattern, colour and form.

Knitting is a slow process.  It does not forgive mistakes and requires you to return to your missed stitches.  Knitting also demands special attention and concentration.  Consequently thoughts, feelings or memories remain in the loops and patterns, underpinning the history of every knitted garment or object and creating unique stories.

These stories were the key to our work this summer.  Some people brought examples of knitted and crocheted garments and objects.  They stood up and told their story.  Likewise participants shared the stories embedded in the squares they made during the event.  A historian recounted stories from the history of knitting which pointed to its significance as part of our material culture.

Knitting project participants

It was interesting for me to see that the Russian participants had a wider interpretation of ‘knitting than we would in Shetland, appearing more ambivalent about the difference between crochet and knit.  With hindsight I have wondered if linguistics contribute to a difference in our perceptions of knit and crochet.   In English a linguistic difference is drawn between these two forms of hand-worked textiles.  In Russian, however, the same word is used for both activities and the resultant products.

Everyone wrote their knitted – or crochet – story on a questionnaire.   These stories have been ‘digitalised and entered into our new web site, www.webnitki.net, where, in its new ‘digital form, each story will take its place on the World Wide Web.  And here we find another linguistic twist – the word ‘nitki means ‘threads in Russian.   By combining Russian and English, the webnitki, are literally an international band of web-knitters.

We recognize that as a result of my collaboration with Tatyana this year, our initial plans and ideas for The Three Graces, may grow and change.  But one of the joys and indeed one of the points of engaging in collaborative work is finding yourself working in new ways and following new directions.  During the next year we are thus looking to develop the work based not only on our experience this summer but also on feedback from the new web site. In 2004 Wilma and I plan to visit St Petersburg to carry out another event.

The web site, www.webnitki.net will be on-line from 1 October 2003.