Sarah's Spotlight - Storyknit

I very happily received the newest issue of Interweave Knits on Thursday. In it, I came across a short article on Tom Hohmann, owner of Storyknit. I found his story very interesting and decided I would share it here. Because all of Tom's work is custom-made, I only have a couple photographs to show off some headbands that Tom has designed. However, anyone who wants to see more can check out page 14 of Interweave Knits. You will certainly not be disappointed!

What I find most interesting about Tom's work is that he truly tells a story with each piece he creates. He learned to crochet for a school project in the third grade and started knitting many years later at the age of 24. He found knitting kept him busy during long tours with his band. He says that he found music and knitting to go very well together and will carry themes across both art forms.

Tom then took a great leap from knitting to designing his own, very unique and complex, patterns. He sat down to design his first sweater with graph paper and colored pencils. He admits that while the sweater looked great from the outside, it left a little to be desired on the inside with numerous color changes!

What Tom creates is truly personalized to the customer. He is influenced by Native American art, culture, and history. However, Tom will design whatever the customer asks of him. He calls his clothing "wearable artwork." While I consider myself to be a knitter, Tom is truly an artist. He says it averages about 4 weeks to design sweaters for customers. He also creates headbands and hoods, which take a shorter amount of time to design and create.

Below is a photograph of the design process in action. I can assure you that none of my knitting patterns look this intricate!