KNITTING NATURE by Norah Gaughan

Click here for Q&A with Norah Gaughan

Q&A with Norah Gaughan.
Prepared by Cindy Young Forrest, 4/7/06

What gave you the idea to use patterns found in nature for a knitting book?
It really goes back to a book I found in a bookstore, The Self-Made Tapestry by Philip Ball, as I mention in the introduction to my book. I tripped across it in a bookstore, and it was filled with patterns and shapes that I knew would relate to the shapes I wanted to use in my knitting.

What were some of your inspirations from the natural world?
In the book, I name some of my patterns after snapping turtles and honeycomb as examples of hexagons, and I am also very interested in the patterns that water makes in the course of its flow. But really my interest in nature had more to do with physics. I was definitely approaching nature from a physics point of view. Rather than looking to the things we associate with nature (like leaves, flowers, and trees), I found in natural objects the examples of physical principles.

Had you ever done any work like this before, consciously or unconsciously?
Consciously, I had already made garments designed outside the normal sequence of front, back, and sleeves, such as a few sweaters based on circles. The textures used in some of my earlier patterns relate to tree bark, too. Looking back, these garments are really the precedent to my work in this book.

Knitting is a creative art, yet you have a degree in biology. How did you make the journey from being a science major to becoming a knitwear designer?
I come from a family of artists, so I grew up with art but liked studying science. My parents are both illustrators, and my interest in science was always a bit foreign to them. After I got my degree in biology, I found I liked knitting most, and I went through an intense period of study with accomplished knitters including my mentor, Margery Winter. A bit like graduate school, this time prepared me as a knitwear designer.

Which knitting authors/designers have influenced you the most?
Definitely Elizabeth Zimmerman and Barbara Walker were among my major influences. Another person who was really my mentor in knitting was Margery Winter. I'd say that my use of natural shapes and patterns is a departure from these influences, though. I have seen some designs in higher fashion from Paris whose experimental constructions have influenced and inspired me.

Which science writers or scientists have influenced you the most?
The number one influence is Philip Ball, since his book led to my idea for this book in the first place. I also look for Stephen Jay Gould when I'm browsing at the bookstore. My biology degree had to do with evolution and ecology, and evolutionary science has always interested me. Probably the great discovery I've made through my reading is that so few constants in physics are responsible for all the patterns in nature, so that things like the Fibonacci series and similarity of angles are repeated again and again.

Do you have more friends who are scientists or knitters?
Knitters! But my very good friend John Schotland is a physicist. He wrote the foreword to my book.

Did your ideas for this book happen on paper or straight on the needle?
For the overall structure of garments, I definitely worked more on paper at first. Then the detail work, the patterning and the textures, would happen on the needle. Usually I am fabric-oriented and surface-pattern-oriented, but because the construction of garments was so different for this book, I designed first on graph paper and then put my knitting on needles to refine it.

What was the book's most challenging project to design?
From a technical point of view, there were three projects that were challenges to design: the Roundabout Leaf Tank, whose design (related to the way leaves grow on a stem) was kind of difficult to work out, and the Nautilus Poncho and Cowl Pullover, which are based on the spiral cone form found in seashells. The patterns that were the most difficult to design I ended up knitting and then pulling out and reknitting to get right.

Was there a pattern that started it all?
Well, the organization of my book is based on the chapters on various shapes in Philip Ball's book. I would have found it too overwhelming to create designs around a series of different shapes, so I designed patterns based on hexagons first, then pentagons. This was a very disciplined way of working; it meant that I went in the same order as the book.

As a designer, do you have a favorite geometric shape or pattern?
Each one was my favorite! But I am still very drawn to hexagons. It's not that they relate especially well to the human body, but the fact that their structure seems to offer infinite variations to the designer.

Do you feel scientists and artists can find common ground?
Definitely. I think scientists can relate to art, and artists to science, although it takes the right kind of personality to look across fields. My friend is a physicist, and his creative process seems very similar to mine when a new idea comes to him, maybe in the middle of the night, almost as a variation on a theme. Both scientists and artists are thinking of new ways to solve problems. I'm definitely more an artist than a scientist, of course.

What did you learn about nature or knitting in creating this book?
I learned that in knitting, and in nature, beautiful and seemingly complex designs can be made by the repetition of a few simple steps. In researching this book I learned about the science of patterns by reading Philip Ball and Darcy Thompson, and by finding images of microscopic creatures and diagrams of fractals. I would let ideas come to me while I was reading, drawing little sketches without working out the details of how garments would come together. When my reading was completed, I pulled out my needles and dug in.

You note in the book that your patterns only "crack the surface" of science's applications to knitting. Where do your designs go from here?
In my new position as design director for Berocco Yarns, I continue to use hexagons and some of the simpler things from my design experience. I still notice the shapes in garments, and think about future applications of my interest in nature. I am definitely making notes.

What are you knitting right now?
A little feminine cardigan. It will be featured in Vogue Knitting this fall.

Photographs by Thayer Allyson Gowdy Stewart