I Am Knitting The 7 Sins. Meet Greed!

I am a knitter from Amsterdam (www.clubgeluk.nl. IG@club_geluk). Being a knit artist I always try to set the bar a little bit higher with each project. After knitting my son a couple of years ago I wanted to try to knit the seven deadly sins. Why? Knitting makes hard objects or abject concepts soft and cuddly. It takes off the rough edges of any subject with the soft textures, the craft and the association of grandmothers. In the past, I have knitted ashtrays with cigarettes, alcohol and meat. The contrast between those products and knitting works every time.

After these experiments I tried to knit puberty by knitting my teenage son. I wrote a piece that he did not want to cuddle anymore. By knitting a life size child it softens the change from a dependent child to a teen that is trying to create as much distance possible from you.

So, what to knit next. This time I really wanted to choose something negative and make it softer by knitting. But how to knit hate, racism and oppression? I chose the seven sins to create a frame: 7 objects for 7 sinful constructs: pride (superbia), greed (avaritia), lust (luxeria), envy (invidia), gluttony (gula), wrath (ira) and sloth (acedia).

Sloth, wrath, envy and pride are not yet finished. For lust I knitted dildo’s and made a little dirty knit book (Yarn Porn – a Good Handjob) and for gluttony I made a few giant gummy bears.

Now I want to show you greed. Because greed took me more than a year.

It took me a year to knit the symbol of avaritia not because the knitting was a lot of work, which of course it was. But making greed was hard because my subject is such a nasty dude. I try not to mention his name in this piece, just like they do not mention Voldemort in Harry Potter (but I think you all know who he is). Anyway, he is such a negative man that it was hard to put love in the knitting and make it look good. But when I put all the pieces together, and especially putting it next to my knitted dildo’s and gummy bears, it so far makes a great knitted story.

I hope you like it, hate it, enjoy it. Let me know what you think. I’m off to knit more sins!

Marieke Voorsluijs

www.clubgeluk.nl

More info: clubgeluk.nl