Eleanor O’Neill

Knitwear Lecturer, BA Fashion

eleanor.oneill@northumbria.ac.uk

I am currently a Lecturer on the Fashion and Fashion Design & Marketing BA courses at Northumbria. My research interests lie within the field of fashion and craft but more specifically, knitting. Using discourse analysis, my research considers how material knowledge is valued in contemporary culture and how master narratives surrounding hands-on creative disciplines are communicated and maintained in both explicit and implicit ways.  

Knitting has extremely broad applications far beyond the fashion and apparel sectors within which it is generally contextualized. Using a single end of yarn and through the repetition of a simple action, a four-way stretch fabric is created. With applications spanning the medical, construction, and automotive industries, as well as apparel, those working within the knitting industry are aware of its potential to tackle the manufacturing challenges we face today. However, the dominant public discourse around knitting today places it firmly in the private sphere, often understood as no more than a feminine and domestic pastime. Through my research, I seek to understand how these narratives are built and communicated with the aim of repositioning the discipline as a widely accepted way of making across diverse disciplines.