Knitting without Tears

This performance was first shown as a work in progress in Coventry as part of Summer Dancing Festival in collaboration with sound artist Darren Pickles and a local group of knitters, who developed a soundscape from the particular knitting sounds.
Tom Marshman has now developed a short performance piece using repetitive movements associated with the action of knitting, based in part on The Knitters Instructional Handbook - Knitting without Tears by Elizabeth Zimmerman. One of Zimmerman’s key phrases is 'knit on with hope and confidence through all crises’. Tom Marshman is drawn to this phrase: this performance explores how knitting can become obsessive, addictive or aggressive when the knitter’s life is out of control.