Katie Schwab is a maker who works with installation, textiles, print and video to explore histories of craft, design and education. Her interests focus on domestic spaces, civic architecture and play environments. Katie's projects are often hands-on, combining community workshops, oral history interviews, archive visits and skills-sharing. Katie lives and works in London. For this project, Katie immersed herself in local histories of machine knitting, visiting the Leicestershire Collection, Charnwood Museum and the Framework Knitters Museum. Katie examined knitted samples, garments and technical drawings to learn more about the wool trade, hosiery production and the knitting industry. Katie also attended a machine knitting course, learning techniques that have inspired new knitted artworks and a wall-based work. Katie has a family connection to the Leicestershire textiles industry. Her German Jewish great-grandfather emigrated to Leicester during WWII, where he worked for Midland Hosiery Mills Ltd, a present-day sock manufacturer.