Construction, needlework not so different

Although it has been a chore for me to adjust to the fact that the field across the road from my house is being developed, I am fascinated by the process of transforming the field from farmland to residential sites.

The instruments that change the nature of what was once a rolling green field are bulldozers and excavators of various kinds. The men and women who drive the big machines are as deft with those diesel-driven, heavy steel teeth and blades as I am with my stainless steel dressmaker’s scissors. The difference, of course, is in the scale of their tools and the fact that they are cutting up turf while I am cutting up fabric. What I create will be lived in. What they create will be lived upon.

The capabilities of the big machines are not so far removed from stitching as one might think.

This summer, two John Deere excavators were the means by which artist Dave Cole, based in Providence, R.I., implemented his sculptural installation project, “The Knitting Machine,” at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams. The excavators were fitted with 20-foot long knitting needles with which the machine operators knitted from fiberglass a gigantic American flag. Cole gave instructions to the excavator operators via hand signals.

According to Cole’s statement found at the Mass MoCA Web page, http://www.mass

moca.org/visualarts/images/

current/davecole.pdf, “‘The Knitting Machine’ combines the feminized domestic American tradition of knitting with the grandiose gesture of construction usually associated with masculine nature.”

The flag was knitted from June 30 to July 3. Then it was folded into the traditional triangle. It is now on display at the museum in a case described as “slightly smaller than a Volkswagen Beetle.” The 20-foot knitting needles and a video of the knitting process are on display with the flag.

Learning about the grand knitting event confirmed for me what I always suspected – those excavator operators are so good at what they do, they can pick their teeth with one of those machines. It also confirms for me that instruments of fiber art creativity are not limited to crochet hooks, bobbins, shuttles and various kinds of needles.

The needle arts, it appears, are so versatile, they can accommodate the brawny manipulations of hydraulic booms clamped around gargantuan knitting needles.

Knitting figures in other works by Cole – “Evolution of the Knitting Needle Through Modern Warfare,” a study of the relationship between technology and violence, and the 14-by-14-foot hand knit “Fiberglass Teddy Bear.”

In the field across from my house, the big machine operators are not knitting. They are creating the threads – the water pipes, the drainage system, the new road – that make possible and hold together the patchwork of 52 1- or 2-acre house lots that comprise the development.

Although I miss the rolling green fabric of the field, I salute the guys and gals who team around those huge pieces of heavy equipment. Maybe next year, one of the drivers will crochet something with those big machines.

Snippets

. The Holy Stitchers of All Souls Church, 10 Broadway, Bangor, will hold its second annual quilt show, 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 19, at the church. Admission is $3. More than 100 quilts, including antiques, modern handmade bed quilts, baby quilts and wall hangings will be on display. Quilting demonstrations will take place throughout the day. A quilt made by Sue Harvey, senior editor of Quilter’s World magazine and Sandy Boobar of Sandy’s Hideaway of Stillwater, also will be on display.

. Milo area knitters have reason to rejoice. Sheilah Bissell has opened Much Ado About Knitting, located in the second floor of the Mason’s Lodge in Milo. Maine-made yarns and knitting needles are among her products. She also offers learn-to-knit kits which feature a pattern of her own design which she markets to knitting shops in Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. To learn more about the shop, call Bissell at 943-5072, or e-mail bissell@prexar.com.

. Barbara Jerome of Falmouth has invented and is marketing Namits, a family word game she invented with embroidery thread holders and a magic marker. To learn more, visit www.namits.com.

Ardeana Hamlin may be reached at 990-8153, or e-mail ahamlin@bangordailynews.net.