make friends with the Knitimals™ (& me)

hello out there! my name is danamarie hosler (greenstarstudio) and i make Knitimals™. i'm a children's illustrator & i've been making my soft sculpture- art dolls professionally, since 2000 (but in an olympic-amateur status since 1998). i'm originally from hot & humid miami (where i'm not even sure wool can be found!), so knitting was completely foreign to me until college. i learned how to knit by watching a girl in my freshman year art history make argyle socks, and was soon fascinated by the connotations of such an old fiber art and such warm natural materials. the first Knitimal i ever made was a project i gave myself when i was really sick one winter... could i make my cuddly LOOKING illustrations into an ACTUALLY cuddly thing? from my bed, all i could see besides the door and the pail i was puking in (sorry, but we're all friends, right?) was a painting i'd done earlier that semester of a flying striped cat. a few 30-something feverish hours later, i had the first Knitimal™. ever since that flu season i've been making my artwork in 2D and 3D; alternating between children's books & magazines, paintings & drawings and knitting one of a kind friends for open minded art lovers. i sell Knitimals™ all over the world and love making work that is truly unique each time i pick up the needles. I don't use patterns ( i don't even really like reading knitting patterns), and usually don't even have a plan when i pick up the needles, other than staying consistent with my illustrations & maintaining the quality of the work i put out for children (big and little!). I'm really excited to have finally found a forum for plush work that goes BEYOND just craft ( i loved the post earlier about originality) and actually teeters on the fine art line. wanna know more about me? here's my blog! happy friday! xoxo, danamarie (and sally, pictured above)