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ABE KNITS + MISC.
June 2025
Copy edited: Griffin Reilly
Interview: Anna Volk
Copy edited: Griffin Reilly
Interview: Anna Volk
HANDMADE IN A FAST FASHION WORLD:
Annabelle of ABE KNITS + MISC. shares her perspective on reclaiming traditionally “feminine” crafts, the role of sustainability in her practice, and the challenges of creating in a world that often prioritizes speed over craftsmanship.
My name is Annabelle and my fiber arts page is ABE KNITS AND MISC. I chose that name because I was just trying to think of something and a lot of my friends call me Abe. Then I was like, well, I mostly do knitting, but I also just like to do DIY stuff. So I was like, well, I like the word 'misc' because my mom always used that growing up to label things as miscellaneous.
YEAH. I LIKE THAT TOO!
Anyways, I got into knitting and crocheting and everything fiber and fabric from my mom. When I was little and she was a stay-at-home mom in elementary school, she had a knitting and sewing business called BABY BY BRITTA, and she would make baby blankets and burpees little cloths you'd put over your shoulder. And (she'd also make) baby sweaters, hats, and booties. So she taught me how to knit and sew when I was really young.
I continued to do it through elementary school and then I feel like through middle school and high school I did it a little bit less mostly because I just got busier. There's less time to do fun things when you're in school and playing sports and working and all that stuff. I definitely picked it back up during COVID because I was like, I don't have anything else to do. But, actually, you know what? I picked it up even before COVID.
I started knitting beanies again. But then when COVID happened and there was a shutdown, I was determined to teach myself how to crochet because I had tried a handful of times, and I was like, I cannot do this.
It just was not clicking for whatever reason. And then one day, I just went to the Ragfinery in Bellingham, and I found some what I like to call t-shirt yarn. It's woven rather than spun, so there's not multiple strands making up the yarn. It's just one thick strand.
And so I was like, oh, this might be good to learn how to crochet because you can't split the yarn.
I HAD A FEELING THAT YOU'RE GONNA BRING UP, LEARNING FROM YOUR MOM.
Well, I think part of it too is my nana. She was a quilter, and she would make all of my mom and aunt's clothes growing up. Also my great grandma liked to crochet.
She did a lot of doilies. I guess it's like crochet, but it's lace tatting kind of too. More a fine fiber.
I feel like it's kinda fun, the four generations of women, at least on my mom's side, have all done, quote, unquote, homemaking stuff. But I feel like that's coming full circle because there's so much overconsumption right now, and I think there's a movement of people who are trying to get back to pulling from the earth and homesteading and underconsumption or just, the normal amount of consumption.
So the idea that people are starting to make their own clothes again, especially because I think people are realizing that — at least in the communities I see on Instagram that I'm a part of — they've realized, like, “nothing fits me.” All the store-bought clothes: “they don't fit me correctly…”
And that's how I feel. So, I'd rather just make what I want to wear than wear something that doesn't fit me.
I HAVE A QUESTION BASED ON THAT - HAVE YOU NOTICED A SHIFT IN HOW PEOPLE VIEW KNITTING AND CROCHETING? DO YOU SEE A SHIFT? WHAT'RE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT?
I was reading something the other day. It was this one woman I follow on Instagram, and she was talking about how so many things that women do, especially when it comes to artistic qualities, are not thought of as art or not thought of as a skill, but they're thought of as a hobby or a craft. But there's so much thought and strategy into making a knitting or crocheting pattern because there's so much engineering behind it.
And the idea that that it's just dismissed as a fun little thing that women do, it's not helpful because it's just continuing that pattern of: Women just do things for fun. Versus, if a man was into woodworking, you wouldn't call that a hobby, you would call that
a skill. And I feel knitting, crocheting and sewing can be useful in a real world sense. You can use the skills from making a pattern or creating an increase or decrease — you can translate that into real-world scenarios.
It's good that people are talking about it. I've seen a lot of stuff too about people talking about how sewing and knitting and all these fiber arts are a form of resistance because people use it to make a stand or share their thoughts and opinions — how important women's hands have been through the history of this country, especially, with making clothes and things for people. I mean, if women didn't know how to sew, everyone would be walking around naked!
It's good that there's some discussion happening around it. Especially, what frustrates me is that everything that's handmade, it can't be — everything that becomes like a trend. Right?
So, crocheting and knitting has become a trend again. Target is making things that are crocheted. And it's like: Well, you can't replicate crochet with a machine.
There's knitting machines for sure, but crochet has to be done by hand if you're really crocheting. So it's great that there's more notoriety coming to fiber arts, but then it's not being done correctly. It's being done as slave labor.
It's basically a bunch of threads just kind of woven together to create the look. But it's not crochet, but it kinda mimics it. I'd much prefer that because then at least you know that it is done with a machine and not necessarily with someone's hands and then being sold at Target for $19.99.
To sit there and just pump out one after the other is kind of counterintuitive to the entire idea of mixed media or fiber arts. Right? The idea is that you take your time and you put in love and thought into something.
vBEING IN THE ARTS INDUSTRY WHERE I DO DESIGN FOR COMMISSION OR I HAVE A CLIENT — I DID FIND MYSELF WHEN PICKING UP ANOTHER WAY OF DOING ART, MY BRAIN IMMEDIATELY GOES “MAYBE I COULD SELL THIS.”
I'M THINKING: “I HAVE TO CAPITALIZE OFF OF THINGS.”
I NEED TO RESIST THAT, "I JUST LIKE DOING THIS FOR FUN."
Right.
I also think that it's really hard because I've struggled with this. The hardest part of all of it for me is creating a piece of clothing...And now I have to then create media off of that clothing. I feel like the whole point of me doing this is... I wanna create as much as I can, but also in the most sustainable way I can.
And that is not by just going to Joanne's and buying hundreds of skeins of yarn because I can. You know what I mean? I feel like there's this pressure from social media to post as often and as much as you can, but that's not really possible when it takes months to make a sweater.
I feel like I'm struggling. I have to think, it's okay that you don't post every other day on your Instagram because, like, I'm not a full time business. I don't have 500 employees where I can just post whatever I want. I've been trying to be more mindful of that.
I can post part of the process rather than the whole complete product and still get engagement. I just I love that people are learning how to crochet and knit, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that because I think there's something really empowering about taking a deeply feminine hobby that's probably been looked at as lesser than male hobbies and reclaiming it.
But I also think people need to understand the depth and the generations of women that have come before us — not always specifically women. Although it has been majority women. But, taking that history into account when you're making things.
I feel like there's some people that I know that are just cranking stuff out, and I feel it's so important to realize the whole purpose of making your own clothes is to slow down the over consumption that so many people are taking part of and reducing your environmental impact.
And then to just go to Joanne's or Michaels and buy a ton of cheap yarn, made by a large company isn't any better than just buying a beanie from Target in the first place. You know?
There's nothing wrong with buying cheap yarn because that's sometimes what you can afford, but it's like: Okay. I only need three skeins. I don't need 10. And I don't need to make eight beanies. I can make one.
DO YOU USUALLY HAVE A TYPE OF YARN OR A FIBER THAT YOU PREFER TO WORK WITH?
is just 100% cotton. I just really like cotton. I think it wears well.
I know sometimes people don't like it because it doesn't have any elasticity to it. So it doesn't bounce back once you wear it. But just throw it in the dryer. It's fine. That's my favorite one to work with because it's also really soft.
There's some companies I like to shop my cotton yarn from that have some really nice rich colors. But, honestly, I really do try and buy — unless I'm working on something specific and I need a specific yarn for a specific project — I really try and buy most of my yarn secondhand.
I go to Seattle Recreative whenever I need yarn. I have a whole stash right now, so I'm working really hard not to go buy more yarn just for the heck of it. Honestly, sometimes I just go by the feel too because I can't necessarily be picky if I'm shopping secondhand. I don't ever know really what's gonna show up. A lot of times I like get something that I like the feel of or I like the color pattern.
Or there's different styles of yarn, you know, like, there's mohair, there's boucle yarn. It's fun to experiment with different textures because you get a different result.
FIND ANNABELLE ON INSTAGRAM: @ABEKNITS.MISC
ANNABELLE’S FAVORITE ACCOUNTS:
@cosmaudi
@paulasprojects_
@juicylu.ce
@urth.bymorg
@foubisou
@helenemoo
@id.knit.that
@josefine_