Knitting and crochet can introduce an urgency to life, a desire to wake each day to continue creating as row after row of yarn is transformed by the work of my own hands from the imagined into a tangible textile. I am often led to rise at dawn, drawn by the lure of my current project and my impatience to see it grow.

I started with face-cloths knitted in pale pastel cotton which developed into little domestic works of art, contrasting colours, clashing colours, gorgeous colours that fade into a homely hand-made comfort. I delight in making beautiful hand-knitted or crocheted items to be used for ordinary daily tasks: a string bag that makes carrying home the groceries that bit more pleasurable; a hand towel that you stop to admire each time you use it; the bathmat that gives you a little thrill each time you step on it. The accessories I use range from vintage buttons to natural fibres like cashmere or cotton and each item is my own unique design and is seldom repeated unless specifically commissioned.

I was taught to knit as a child by my mother and only learnt to crochet in recent years thanks to the wonderful talents of the women at the knitting and crochet group I attend where each of the beautiful projects we are working on is cherished and watched over until its completion. Of course some projects never do get completed .....but the thing with yarn is that it can always be used for something else...!

Gloria Hunniford announces Julia's drawing, Waiting, as an award winner at the Society of Women Artists 2009 event.

This year I have had to take a rest from knitting and crochet as it has taken its toll on the tendons in my left arm. So my neglected sewing machine has become the focus of my attention and I have created a range of purses from cheerfully contrasting fabrics, traditional ginghams and polka dots combined with bright florals. Remnants from other projects and fragments too beautiful to throw away have found their use. It is reminiscent of the small scraps used in the past for patchwork and of course means that a cherished fabric can become a useful object in daily use. All the purses are lined and interlined, and some have a crocheted flower decoration or fabric frill. On others I have used some of my buttons to add an embellishment.

I like the interior fabric to be a delightfully contrasting fabric to the exterior. The purse frame is 10cm in width and the purse depth is approximately 9cm. And of course there is that satisfying ‘click’ as you snap the purse shut that you so envied about your mother’s purse as a little girl......

The seduction of yarn, the metamorphosis of yarn into stitches, the charm and mystery of discarded clothes, the way they evoke the wearer and hold their memory has led me to create drawings of garments both knitted and other. Placed amidst a domestic setting the familiar stitches that I work with so often translate into landscapes of shadow and light, curves and folds, and reveal abandoned or forgotten emotions.

Working in lead pencil rather than with colour seems to emphasize the contours and textures of a particular garment and also brings a certain stillness and silence to a setting, reminiscent of the tranquillity of an empty room allowing thoughts to roam unhampered by another’s presence. I have recently started working with colour but am aware that it may evoke a reaction in the viewer beyond that conveyed by the image.