Bliss' somewhat improbable career in knits began with making soft sculptures of plants with leaves and flowers out of yarn. She was a confirmed machine knitter, until she decided to switch to designing hand knits for the fashion world. In an interview with this author for the Star-Ledger in 2007, she described her evolution and why there are more than 50 million knitters in the United States today.
Why Bliss Made the Switch to Hand Knitting
It was very difficult to earn a living. I had taken a textile course where you made coats out of crisp packets, arty stuff. I was unemployable for about three years. I did various jobs and it was humbling. I worked in a hospital as a cleaner. I’ll never get over how lucky I am to do what I do.
Bliss’ First Hand-Knit Garment
Talk about being hoisted by your own petard. I first went (to a knitwear magazine) and they wanted to commission a garment. I realized suddenly that they wanted to commission a hand-knit garment. I didn’t lie exactly. I was economical with the truth. I was very passionate about the artist Sonia Delaunay, who did these wonderful geometric shapes. So I designed a coat. I couldn’t do it on a machine so I went home to my mother and she reintroduced me to hand-knitting and fed me cups of tea and soup and I knitted this garment in about four days. I still have it, but the moths have gotten it. I couldn’t have come up with a worse idea — it had shaping, color work, everything that strikes fear in a knitter’s heart.
