Abstract:
Hand knitting is a versatile experimental craft that can be explored in many ways. Knitting
is the process of looping yarn around two or more needles to form a collection of interconnected loops
that will eventually become a finished clothing item or another sort of fabric. This craft came to Sri
Lanka during foreign invention and primarily to produce pure Norwegian wool yarns began producing
machine knitted sweaters somewhere in the 1950's. And further expanded as cottage knitting centers
in several of the island's rural communities. In literature, hand knitting is typically connected with
western countries. Even though it is generally associated with the western countries, Sri Lanka also
considers it as a heritage textile craft. Hand knitting is a common practice in every household
worldwide. However, because of the lack of climatic necessity, hand knitting is not a well-established
craft in Sri Lanka as compared to other crafts. And also, the knitting industry has still not started to
cater in terms of the Sri Lankan context. Nevertheless, Sri Lanka has thriving, economy-based craft
organizations and communities with highly talented artisans who have more than 35 years of expertise
in hand knitting and produce export-quality goods to different countries. There are countless
possibilities with hand knitting, and this method is capable of adapting to local context in many ways.
Craftsman’s, different companies are also approaching this. The term "amalgamation" describes the
mixing of cultures as opposed to one group eradicating another or one group assimilating itself into
another. Hence Craft amalgamation is one approach where hand knitting can be introduced according
to local preferences. The main objective and the intention of this research is to understand how local
designers in Sri Lanka amalgamate various other heritage textile crafts in Sri Lanka with hand knitting
technology to integrate into the local context. This creates an opportunity for local craft communities
to uplift their craftsmanship towards the creative economy and also to give a new knowledge to the
Local designers who tend to form new designs related to hand knitting for the local context. Literature
reviews and case studies are used as the main research approach for this study to examine the Sri
Lankan hand knitting industry and its strengths and weaknesses. Several case studies will be carried
out for designers who are engaged with knitwear, and it will be conducted to identify the ways they have taken through the amalgamation of heritage crafts. Craft amalgamation may be challenging, but
efforts have been made to remove these challenges from their design processes. In the end, each of
these projects clearly illustrates the potential for craft amalgamation. Hence this will open up to future
possibilities which are related to hand knitting.
