Northshore magazine showcases the best that the North Shore of Boston, MA has to offer.
Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/410828
257 Sara Wright Stone sculptures, mosaics, jewelry, and fine art may fill our souls, but when the temperature drops, it is Sara Wright's hand knit and hand woven fab- rics that most of us would prefer to wrap around our bodies. Michigan-bred Wright first visited Rockport after her junior year in college. She kept returning until finally deciding to make it her home. At least part of that decision was the large loom she chose to buy, which took up an entire room in her home. As she moved from one location to another in her twenties, the loom always went with her—in apartments, homes, and studios. However, when she became a mother in 1990, it was her son—and not the loom— that needed the extra bedroom. Wright's loom, and her weaving, were set aside. Meanwhile, Wright's hands did not rest. She knit hats, scarves, and sweaters. Now, with her son grown, she is in full tilt once again, weaving and knitting using wool, mohair, alpaca, cotton, silk, and bamboo (rayon), which is soft, flexible, and drapes well. Her company, Fiber Wrights, features Wright's wardrobe accessories as well as throws, bedspreads, and blankets. Her handmade winter scarves and hats are woven using novel multicolored yarns. They exude warmth in beautiful shades of blue, magenta, and a variety of whites, pinks, and reds—actually, every color of the rainbow. "The yarns I choose, often have to do with the seasons," said Wright. "But sometimes it has to do with my emo- tions at the time. I love purples, blues, aqua, and turquoise. But I also love deep creams, red, and avocado." Wright's kimono-style sweater-jackets are woven entirely of pastel-colored fabrics and are ideal for that time between fall and winter. "I make traditional kinds of knitted sweaters. The stitches are vertical rather than horizontal. People look better in vertical stripes. I do a lot of them," says Wright, a member of the Cape Ann Arti- sans. Her favorite textiles are wool and mohair because of their elasticity and the way they feel. "People are attracted to my work because of the texture and the colors," she notes. She sometimes uses brushed, fuzzy, or hairy yarns interspersed with smooth yarns for accents in her pieces. "It's the hand-spun irregularities, the tex- tures, and the colors that make it interest- ing to me." capeannartisans.com ● n Sara Wright weaves on a very large loom to create pieces for her company, Fiber Wrights. Photographs by Paul Lyden