Professor Emerita, Dominican University
I’m Susan Strawn, and I invite you to join me on my journey into the intriguing, perplexing, inspiring, touching, and at times downright odd and obscure stories hidden in knitted objects.
I research, write, illustrate, and present my insights and observations in stories that honor knitters and knitting. A closer look at each knitted object can reveal the everyday life of a maker, their personal and cultural history, environment and community, technology and aesthetics.
For decades, cloth and clothing—especially knitting—has jumped out at me in museums around the world, at countless rummage sales and antique malls and flea markets, and in page-by-page searches through hundreds of very old periodicals in library archives. Now and then, my research and writing branch into stories about woven and embroidered cloth and clothing. But really, my heart and hands are with knitting.
In a hasty and throw-away world, I write to encourage the value held the objects we have in hand, not an endless rush toward the latest shiny object.
Current projects
My current project is a book tentatively titled Loopy: How Knitting Saved My Sanity and Opened Doors to the World. I invite you to read two excerpts on the AgArts site.
An Excerpt from Loopy: How Knitting Saved My Sanity and Opened Doors to the World by Susan M. Strawn
Blazing Star Journal selection, The Gaman Mittens
New Writing
What else were suffragists doing while working tirelessly for woman suffrage during World War I? They were knitting!
“Another Noble Cause: Suffragist Knitters of World War I” is my 37th article for PieceWork (Long Thread Media), a handsome and inspiring magazine about textiles and history.
Please see the About page to learn more about me.
All my published work is listed on the Writing and Publications page.
If you’d like to learn more about my presentations available on knitting, cultural dress, and genealogy, see the Presentations section on the Writing and Publications page.
If you would like to contact me about my writing or about having me present, please fill out the contact form.
English