What makes something Sideshow Knitting?

That’s actually a harder question to answer than you might think. It isn’t one particular product, one particular color palette, or even one particular type of yarn. The list of things I make is always evolving, and I’m perfectly happy with that. I think something becomes Sideshow Knitting when you can see the quality, the sometimes funky colors, and a little bit of me in it.

Yarn is a huge part of the process. Sometimes the weight of the yarn tells me what it wants to become. Sometimes it’s the color. Sometimes I have an idea first and go looking for the yarn that will make it work. Once I know what I’m making, one of my favorite parts is watching it take shape as it comes off the loom. There’s something really satisfying about seeing the finished piece separate from the loom and realizing, “Oh! So that’s what these colors were going to do.” That’s especially true with crazy color combinations. You never really know how the colors are going to behave together until they become an actual piece. And that surprise is part of the fun.

Sideshow Knitting has an ever-growing list of products. Hats, scarves, head wraps, mittens, mug wraps, bags, scrunchies, and whatever else I happen to be experimenting with. So what connects all of them?

Me.

I will only make something if I want to make it. Someone can suggest an idea, and I might think it’s really cool, but if I’m not feeling it, it probably isn’t going to happen. I have to actually want to sit down and make the thing. I think that matters. Making something because I’m excited to see what happens is very different from making something because I think I should. I want that excitement to make its way into the finished piece.

I also love working with handmade and hand-dyed materials because even when I’m working with the same fiber, the finished pieces can still have their own personalities. The dye, the way the colors land, and even the way the yarn behaves can make one piece different from the next. I’m working with some rainbow yarn right now that I picked up at the WNY Fiber Arts Festival. It was hand-dyed and hand-spun, with thick-and-thin sections and all kinds of color variations. That is exactly the kind of thing I love. I don’t need everything to come out perfectly uniform. Sometimes the variations are the best part.

I also really enjoy naming my yarn collections and projects. Because honestly, which sounds more interesting: a “blue and yellow hat,” or a hat with a name that makes you curious about it? When I give a yarn or collection a name, it becomes more than just a combination of colors. It starts to have a personality. And if I’m going to spend the time making something by hand, I want it to be fun from the beginning all the way to the end.

Not everything I try works perfectly the first time. Sometimes it’s downright frustrating. I’ve recently started testing a new product, and there have definitely been moments where I’ve wondered why I decided to try it. But I like seeing where an idea takes me. I like figuring out what works, changing what doesn’t, and eventually reaching that point where I think, “Okay. I think I’ve got it.”

And then comes the really fun part: watching the thing grow.

When someone gets a Sideshow Knitting piece, I hope they can feel the time that went into making it. I hope they can feel that I had fun making it, and I hope they feel some of that same enjoyment when they use it. Because there is a big difference between something being handmade and something feeling handmade. For me, handmade means there was a person behind it. There was time spent choosing the yarn, figuring out what it should become, working through the process, and making decisions along the way. And eventually there was that moment when I looked at the finished piece and thought, “I really like this.”

I think that might be the simplest answer to what makes something Sideshow Knitting.

Something is Sideshow Knitting when I finish making it and I’m excited for it to find a home. Not just because it’s another item in the inventory. Because I genuinely want someone to have it. And when an order comes in, it makes my day. Someone looked at something I made, decided they wanted it, and gave it a new home. That feeling makes me want to go back to the yarn and make even more. Maybe Sideshow Knitting isn’t about having one signature product or a perfectly consistent look.

Maybe it’s about following the yarn, trying the weird idea, keeping the funky colors, giving things ridiculous or wonderful names, and making things that I’m excited to share with someone else.

That’s what makes it Sideshow Knitting.

- Blair, S.K.