A work in progress by Stephanie Hamilton. Photo by Surrey Blackburn.

by Emily Berk and Joe Devlin

Stephanie Hamilton spends her weekends working in the bleachers while watching her son’s hockey games. She is a professional knitter who makes her living by knitting jewelry with wire rather than yarn.

Hamilton’s lovely designs feature stones, pearls, shells, coral, tiny sundials, mother-of-pearl, Cebu shells, lava stones, lapis lazuli, amazonite and other materials from exotic locales juxtaposed with her hand-knitted wire creations. Her necklaces, bracelets and earrings are knitted from copper wire — plated with gold or silver, or left as is — finished with a clear enamel to prevent tarnishing. Clasps and earring wires are made of sterling silver, 14-karat gold fill, or copper.

A visit with a local mothers club to an exhibit of the wire sculptures of Japanese-American artist Ruth Asawa at San Francisco’s de Young Museum transformed Hamilton’s life. Knitting with wire quickly became an obsession. Her first bracelets and earrings were quite simple, but then she began to incorporate small pieces of beach glass and shells into her knitting.

A subsequent visit to the de Young Museum changed Hamilton’s life again. “Some patrons started asking me about pieces I was wearing. One woman offered to buy a bracelet right off my wrist,” Hamilton said. She was invited to participate in a show of coastal California craftswomen. Galleries began to carry her work. Stephanie Hamilton became a professional artist.

Stephanie Hamilton.

Knitting with wire is more challenging than knitting with yarn. “You use the same hand motions but wire is much less forgiving and it takes a great deal more planning. You can’t rip out mistakes you make in wire — you have to throw the piece way and start from the beginning. You also have to plan out a design in wire in a way that is not necessary in yarn. Jewels and pieces of shells that are to become part of the jewelry must be strung on the wire in backwards order before knitting starts,” Hamilton explains.

Hamilton hopes that her biggest commission so far will change the world as well as her own life. The Until There’s a Cure Foundation, which raises awareness and money for HIV/AIDS research and treatment, asked her to create pendants that the foundation can sell on its website. “Problem was,” said Hamilton, “they wanted 400 necklaces in two weeks time. I was so happy to knit for a better world. But how could I get it all done in the time they’d given me? What I do requires a lot of expertise. That’s what makes my work unique, but it makes it hard to get help when I need it. One of the designs I was asked to do incorporates 40 little rubies. It takes about 45 minutes to string those rubies on each wire. A friend suggested a bead-stringing party. A half dozen of us got together one afternoon, drank wine, ate cheese and strung rubies on wire for hours on end. It was loads of fun. I would never have gotten it done on time without that party.”

Hamilton with more designs.

Two of Stephanie’s pendants are currently selling on the Until There’s a Cure website. Both are made of woven silver wire with an AIDS awareness ribbon in the middle.

Hamilton weaves her work elegantly into her family and public life. “I work whenever I’m a passenger in a car, while watching TV at night, while watching my kids at soccer and hockey games,” she says.

Working in the public eye has many benefits. Hamilton says, “When people see me working, they become curious. That can lead to challenging commissions. For example, one lady wanted a wide choker that covered a large part of her neck and chest that she could wear to formal events. Getting it to lie properly on her took time. But she loves the result and wears it all the time. It has become a popular piece — one that I would never have worked out without that commission.”