She started as an artist, discovered writing along the way, created a virtual art gallery to promote other artists and finally, comes back full circle to create her own Knitwear online business. Meet Marianne Henio, who talks about her knitwear designs, her art and everything that makes her happy. In her words, Knit your way to style!
My work incorporates all of the arts and crafts on a daily basis. I mix my work as a knitwear designer with the work of others in all fields of the arts through a platform that I created online at www.artsandcraftsathome.co.uk.
I created Arts and Crafts at Home (A&C@Home) earlier this year as an online gallery and store dedicated to promoting, supporting, and exploring the interests and needs of artists and craftspeople. My passion is for the visual arts, fine craft, and designing and creating knitwear – both hand and machine knitted. I also love to write about these topics and I am continually publishing books related to them. My recent publications have been a series of designer knitting collection pattern books which have been made up of knitwear from my collections.
Through the A&C@Home’s blog, my aim is to promote all artists and craftspeople and their work.
A&C@Home’s online gallery and shop is the result of my vision, to join my passions and present them neatly under one roof. I believe that I am truly blessed to be in the fortunate position to be able to work within a field I am passionate about and call it my business.
We are also a resource! A&C@Home aims to offer a variety of arts and crafts online resources. An ever growing range of arts and crafts supplies will be available with links to well-known and trusted stores who deliver directly to
your home.
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There is a selection of knitwear for sale from my Knitwear Collections. Patterns for these garments can be digitally downloaded, along with a range of other knitting patterns for hand and machine knitters. All patterns are suitable for beginners and offer full instructions and colour photographs.
Instructional videos are also available for hand knitters to learn the basic skills of their craft.
A&C@Home’s growing Book Store stocks a range of arts and crafts related books, and our Yarns store offers a range of knitting yarns for both the machine and hand knitter.
I do the research before creating a knitwear collection to see what colours are on the catwalks for the coming season. This year has been a superb year for colour with some really stunning colours. Soft, cool shades have been mixed with subtle warm tones from nature, producing some wonderful combinations.
I get a buzz from the whole process – from researching to getting down to the drawing board, from choosing colours to mathematically working out the patterns. I love the process of creating, both on the machine and by hand. I tend to work on the machine during the daytime, and then get out the knitting needles to relax in the evening. (I have recently written a book called ‘Knitting for Therapy’ – free on my website – which describes all the research done recently on the meditative advantages of hand knitting and craft.) I love putting my collections together and promoting the finished results. It is great to see other fellow knitters working my designs in their own choice of colours and yarns to suit their own personalities.
I am always creating! If it is not knitwear, it is writing a book, or writing a blog post to promote another’s work. My mind very rarely stops creating. I have to take time out to meditate daily to slow my mind down
I started hand knitting as a young girl. I think that is where most of us started – when our grandmothers sat us down and showed us the first steps. I bought my first knitting machine when I was pregnant. My son is now 28 so that is quite a long scarf!
I design fairly simple, classic designs to suit and flatter most ages and figures. Occasionally, I get carried away and design something more complicated. Also, I like to think that the patterns that I then produce are easy and basic for others to follow.
Fashion for me relates to mood. I feel equally as comfortable and happy wearing a pair of sloppy trousers that I have knitted in a soft and comfy yarn along with my flip flops and no makeup, to wearing one of my beautifully tailored Chanel inspired suits that require some heels, manicured nails, hair and makeup (Oh, and a great handbag!)
I recently left a relationship where my partner loved to see me in either black or white – no colours! Not me! I love colour. Where fashion is concerned, colours have the power to make you feel special, to change a mood, to highlight our best features, and to hide our (self perceived) little flaws. As any knitter or any other artist will know, colours have the power to excite us. When choosing a palate of colours for a new project, perhaps the most exciting part of the process is when those yarns, paints, or fabrics arrive and we can get started! This is therapy in itself
Art is for everyone. Creativity should be encouraged. It is powerful and therapeutic. The benefits of creating, producing and enjoying the finished results are phenomenal.
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Marianne can be contacted through Etsy Shop:
https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/henioCreative?ref=hdr_shop_menu
Facebook pages: Arts and Crafts at Home –
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Artsandcraftsathome/455509057933436
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