The inspiration for this ebook was four members of the 27 club, many of the members of this group have touched my life, albeit in different ways and I wanted to explore the impact of art and popular culture through a series of socks that loosely play off the artists and musicians, but more importantly the lasting impact that has transcended their work.

Kurt Cobain

I choose Kurt Cobain, because his legacy was one that touched my life from a very young age. When I was in high school and university, I can remember huge posters of the Nirvana front man all over my cousin’s bedroom, it was this moment that piqued my interest, and the desire to understand more about his life and what he brought to the world.

The sock was inspired by a sweater that he wore during his MTV Unplugged concert. The reason I choose the sweater as a source of inspiration, is because I feel its history and subsequent fame centralized the importance of clothing, choices, and the cultural impact these can have. This 60-year-old sweater, made of mohair, acrylic and Lycra became the worlds most expensive cardigan because of the history associated with it. Due to the popularity of the grunge movement of the time, that centralized the idea of the “found object” that was a theme prevalent in contemporary art and implied that Cobain was known to shop and wear second-hand clothing. For me, the history of this sweater spoke to me as a knitter and designer, and allowed me to see that what we make with our hands, is not simply an item of clothing, but an item that is imbued with memories, ideas and emotion – that every item we make, can potentially make a difference, to the environment, to the people we make them for and even to history itself. Clothing is more than just the cloth, the yarn it is made of it is a statement about what we value, it’s an embodiment of the society we live in and the emotion and care that we imbue within it.

Basquiat:
I first encountered the work of Jean-Miquel Basquiat in my 3rd year Postmodern Art class, the raw emotionality of the Neo-expressionist artist touched me to the core. His bold use of colour, the graffiti art style, along with the embodied references that touched on art, music and culture left’s an impression, along with the artist who made them. What touched me most about the work of Basquiat was the haunting affect his work produced and how the embedded emotionality touched on issues of liminality and marginalization.
For this sock I wanted to capture the emotion and affect that was inherent within Basquiat’s work along with the artist’s bold use of colour, and the jarring nature of his artistic composition. So, I chose vivid colour for the stripes, and a bright, almost neon yellow, along with a simple textured design that echoed the simple visual imagery of the graffiti art style.

Jimi Hendrix:
The final pair of socks in the eBook was inspired by the legendary Jimi Hendrix, the musician and guitarist who paved the way for a new generation of rock music. I chose Jimi Hendrix, because as a musician, he used art to speak without words, a counter culture revolutionary he changed the music world, but also embedded himself within the hearts and minds of the people. His performance of the Star-Spangled Banner at Woodstock in 1969, was a reference to war – a thought provoking and moving performance that was a testimony to the power and potency of music and art, it’s ability to question along with it’s unique platform for protest.

For these socks the wavy ribbed cable pattern is used to represent the passion and emotion his music embodied, along with the messages and meaning the songs carried.

Amy Winehouse:
These socks were inspired by the British singer, Amy Winehouse, with her arresting contralto vocals - the socks feature symbolic, textured building blocks which produce a subtle circular impact, that speaks to the influences inherent within her own work and the impact her vocals and songs would subsequently play.

Ebook Information
The intended release dates for the patterns are as follows:

Unplugged Cable socks - 4th May
Painted Textures - 1st June
Electric Rib - 29th June
Contralto socks - 27th July

eBook published in May 2024

ravelry.com