Real People Online: Leigh Witchel, Part 1 - Page 2
© Suzanne Griffith
I'm interested in the connection between dance and knitting. The first handknitted garment I ever saw - that I was aware of - was a pair of gray wool fishnet leg warmers worn by a young woman from Germany in my ballet class. "You made them yourself?" I gasped. Which came first for you, the knitting or the dancing? And how do the two practices harmonize or conflict in your life?
I also learned to knit in Boise in 1989, to pass the time on tour buses. Distances are quite long in the Inland Northwest, especially in the winter. I recall a 17-hour bus ride from Pullman, WA to Idaho Falls, ID which was necessitated because the highways in the northern part of the state had been closed. I approached learning to knit the same way I approached learning to dance. I realized a lot of people had half finished sweaters given up in disgust, so I started with smaller projects, booties and mittens, and gradually tried larger ones to build up patience and stamina. I completed my first vest in the spring of 1990.
From the outset, I was designing or adapting my own patterns. I had no interest in following directions; I did enough of that while dancing! And I kept my interest in projects by making them silly: Hitchhiker Mittens, with a fluorescent orange thumb, Vulture Puppet Booties - I would take a standard bootie pattern and knit the toe in a wildly contrasting color. Slipped over the hand, it makes a fabulous vulture puppet. - to be continued
In two weeks: Leigh reveals the secrets of his stash.
(photo by Jack Deaso courtesy of Dance as Ever, Inc.)
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