Assigned to make something useful in my ceramics class, I chose to make a knitting bowl. The key feature of knitting bowls is the spiral in the side, where the yarn gets threaded and pulled through, leaving the ball still in the bowl. I made this with a hand-building technique. I used a plaster bowl as a mold, and around the outside I first placed the seven key components: a heart, a star, a moon, an acorn, two different leaves, and then a star on the bottom of the bowl. I then filled in the space around it with short pieces of coils that flowed in a natural way around the piece. Aside from the main components, I invented the pattern as I went along, thinking with my hands. Part of the fun of knitting is how the object was made: by hand by someone you love, stitch by stitch. This bowl is similar: made by hand with love, piece by piece, and just like knitting its quirks make it all the more beautiful.
