Art

Q&A: Ella Emhoff on Pulling Loops Through Loops

Cozy season is fast approaching, and with it, slow hobbies like knitting are returning in full force. What better way to take one up yourself than to join Soft Hands, a knitting club led by NYC-based creative Ella Emhoff?

The monthly workshop can be found in NO BAR, where Ella will provide quick tips + tricks from her own work. Limited seats are open to the local community + guests of the hotel - take a peek at the next set of dates here. Until our next session, take up inspo from Ella’s own foray into the knitting world:


Knitting is a game of patience, but it’s so satisfying to achieve a finished result. What piece has been the most rewarding to see come together and how long did it take?

Knitting is definitely a game of patience, you have to get into an almost zoned-out state to really feel the flow of it. I’ve started a new style of knitting that seems to take even longer than before but is even more satisfying when it's all done. It’s a technique called duplicate stitch and it is the process of hand stitching in colors to create an image or design (think pixel art). This took me about a month and a half of working pretty rigorously.


What sparked your interest in starting a knitting club open to your community, and why do it at The Standard? 

I actually originally started knitting when I was around six years old, I have been doing it on and off since then and really started getting serious about it in college. I wanted the knit club to mimic the experience I had working in the Parsons studios. It was so nice being able to create and bounce ideas off people constantly. It’s very good for my creative practice. Having it at The Standard is just the cherry on top. I have always seen The Standard as a place that really valued creatives and creativity so it just felt right.


What advice do you give to those who are diving into the practice for the first time?

Don’t get too frustrated. When you really think about it, knitting is just pulling loops through loops.


Any hidden gems for shopping knitwear or knitting materials in the city? 

My favorite place to find yarn is on eBay, ha! I work a lot with donated and scrap yarn so [it's great to browse] people's yarn collections that they are selling. Yarn is one of those things that's really easy to hoard and hard to part from so I like to give people's yarn new life.


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