Knitter’s world
Becky Dodman-Wainwright tells us all about the colourful pieces she handknitted for her wedding and for a llama photoshoot with her family!
Read about Becky DodmanWainwright’s colourful knit wedding
Every couple wants their wedding day to represent exactly who they are, as well as their passions. One Cornish couple did exactly this, incorporating their love of knitting – and llamas – into their very special (and beautifully bright) day. Around four years ago, Becky Dodman-Wainwright’s brother bought her and now-husband Simon a ‘llama walk’ as a gift – and they loved it! They continued the activity, spending numerous family days out there with their children. When it came to planning her wedding day, Becky wanted to give her family a gift – a friend came up with the idea of a wedding photoshoot with the llamas. Becky decided to combine this idea with her love of knitting, making fab knits that the whole family could wear on the shoot – the perfect gift! She set about designing and creating a knitted collection of cardigans and shawls. This labour of knitting love took around a year to make in total in between her mum duties, art businesses and job as a degree lecturer in the textiles suite at Plymouth College.
Having traditionally worked with machine knitting, crochet, tufting, embroidery and hand knitting, Becky decided that for this collection she would work exclusively with handknitting. “I used Shetland wool for the stranded and intarsia knitted cardigans, and luxury merino and silk mohair for the shawl and second wedding cardigan I wore,” says Becky. “These included lace knitting. It was important for me to take the year knitting these items, taking my time making decisions and exploring yarn options.” The yarn companies she used online had fantastic yarn shade cards, and Becky was lucky enough to go to the Edinburgh yarn festival to purchase some luxury yarns and meet some great independent yarn producers.
Simon helped Becky design his cardigan and she created the ‘love’ cardigans. “They’re digitally planned and handknitted,” Becky tells us. “They took me six months to make. Being able to express my joy and happiness through knitting was really important. For the big day, I knitted a shawl, the corsages, ties, and a cardigan which was more in keeping with the wider celebrations. They’re visually di erent, but all express my love and joy for this special event.”
It was important to Becky to handknit her wedding collection. She learnt the skill from her grandmother, who taught her to knit at a very young age, using the craft as a vehicle to tell stories of her time growing up overseas. “I always remember being in wonder that she could create blankets, vests and socks from a simple strand of yarn,” says Becky of her grandmother. “She used neons and brightly coloured acrylic to make practical items for the home. I always felt she could make something beautiful from very little, and coupled it with the story telling. She was always happy, life was never hurried, but always colourful.”
Heavily influenced by this, handknitting the garments was an expression of her dedication, consistency, and love for Simon and her family. “We are in such a fortunate time that the choice of yarn, fibre, both traditional and experimental is endless. Price points vary depending on your pocket and you can make something from a simple strand,” she tells us. “With the choices available, I can make wholly unique knitted garments or objects that retain my knitted ‘handwriting’, much like a painter or print maker. Knitting gives me the time to make decisions when working organically or in a more planned way, and I find it a very ‘in the moment’ process without being hurried.”
For more details check out Becky’s colourful website at www.beckydodman.work