Did You Know? Indiana Mom Hand

Jun 03, 2023

Have you heard of micro-knitting? As the name would suggest, micro-knitting is knitting done on a very small scale.

But, what's the purpose?

I recently discovered an Indiana artist who specializes in micro-knitting. In fact, her skills landed her a job on the 2009 stop-motion film, Coraline.

The artist, Althea Crome, created a pair of mittens that Coraline, the main protagonist, asks her mother to buy. I only know about this because I've somehow fallen down the Coraline fan theory side of Tiktok. Honestly, I'm not complaining.

A creator by the name of Belle Develle Co. has created a series diving into all of the unnoticed details about the film, theories about what each detail means, and more. That's when she revealed that the mittens, which I thought would be made of clay or plastic, were actually hand-knitted by Althea Crome:

As it turns out, Crome didn't just knit the gloves. In fact, every sweater you see Coraline wearing was also sewn together by Crome. She talks about it in a brief video below:

The steadiness of hand you would have to possess to do this...I could never. That is an incredible focus on details despite the small scale.

Althea Crome originally hails from Colorado and grew up with parents that were very artistic and almost nomadic, according to her website. With that being said, Althea learned quickly how to be self-sufficient and developed a love for knitting that eventually led to micro-knitting.

Because her skill is so unique, she creates her own knitting needles from thin, surgical stainless steel. With those tiny needles, she can squeeze 80 stitches per inch.

While her work in the movie Coraline is impressive, her other works will blow your mind even more. Take this piece, for example. It's a series of sweaters featuring different images from a sheep farm:

You can learn more about Althea Crome, see her gallery of work, and beyond on her website.

Anytime someone can execute a vision they have by crafting things with their hands, I'm always left very impressed.

While Althea focused on the micro, there's a man in Ohio who took his vision in the opposite direction by creating a giant skeleton for Halloween: