Althea Crome

Crome started knitting in 2001.{{cite web |last1=Rodriguez |first1=Mercedes |title=Small stitches add up to big fame |url=https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2008/09/29/small-stitches-add-up-to-big-fame/48191983/ |website=The Herald-Times |date=September 29, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250503231014/https://www.heraldtimesonline.com/story/news/2008/09/29/small-stitches-add-up-to-big-fame/48191983/ |archive-date=May 3, 2025 |url-status=live}} Although she originally made items at normal scale, she took it as a challenge to make smaller and smaller knitted items.{{cite web |last1=Partlow |first1=Mia |title=Seventy Stitches To The Inch: Althea Crome's Tiny Knits |url=https://indianapublicmedia.org/arts/tiny-knits.php |website=Arts & Culture |publisher=Indiana Public Media |date=February 14, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200803020656/https://indianapublicmedia.org/arts/tiny-knits.php |archive-date=August 3, 2020 |url-status=live}} She focuses on miniature items, especially garments such as sweaters. Her miniature sweaters can have over 80 stitches per inch (31 stitches per centimeter); sweaters made at a regular scale typically have around four stitches per inch (about 1.5 stitches per centimeter). She typically knits with fine silk thread on handmade needles. Commercially available knitting needles are not small enough for her work, so she makes her own needles out of surgical steel. Crome creates her own patterns and uses a magnifier to knit.

Althea Crome draws inspiration from Biblical scenes, Ancient Greek pottery, and paintings such as The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh. Crome may use dozens of different colors in a single piece. Some of her knit pieces also contain intricate cabling.{{cite web |last1=Andres |first1=Jackie |title=Althea Crome’s Miniature Sweaters Test the Limits of Traditional Knitting |url=https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/05/althea-crome-miniature-sweaters/ |website=Colossal |date=May 6, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240507002458/www.thisiscolossal.com/2024/05/althea-crome-miniature-sweaters/ |archive-date=May 7, 2024 |url-status=live}} While some of Crome's pieces are inspired by existing artwork, she also makes her own designs based on events in her life.{{cite web |last1=Darro |first1=Sarah |title=Althea Crome on Storytelling through Knitting and Our Cultural Fascination with Miniatures |url=https://crafthouston.org/2017/03/althea-crome-on-storytelling-through-knitting-our-cultural-fascination-with-miniatures/ |website=Houston Center for Contemporary Craft |date=March 14, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804112636/https://crafthouston.org/2017/03/althea-crome-on-storytelling-through-knitting-our-cultural-fascination-with-miniatures/ |archive-date=August 4, 2020 |url-status=live}} For example, she knitted a pair of socks that described her transition from living in Chicago to living in Indiana.

In 2006, Laika Studios contacted her to ask her to work on the costumes for Coraline. She first knitted leggings for Coraline, the titular character, which the studio did not end up using. However, they did end up using the 14 sweaters and six pairs of gloves she created for the character. She is credited as the "Knitwear Creator" for the film.{{cite web |last1=Jaworski |first1=Michelle |title=Considering the Perfect Knits of Coraline |url=https://reactormag.com/considering-the-perfect-knits-of-coraline/ |website=Reactor Magazine |date=April 11, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412222117/https://reactormag.com/considering-the-perfect-knits-of-coraline/ |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |url-status=live}} At the time, she was working as a respiratory therapist. Later, in 2013, she quit her job to dedicate herself to knitting full-time.{{cite web |last1=Rudavsky |first1=Shari |title=How an Indiana artist made a big career out of teeny sweaters and elfin gloves |url=https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/11/10/how-indiana-artist-makes-mint-off-teeny-sweaters-and-elfin-gloves-these-teeny-tiny-sweaters-works-ar/799595001/ |website=Indy Star |date=November 10, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171110173541/https://www.indystar.com/story/life/2017/11/10/how-indiana-artist-makes-mint-off-teeny-sweaters-and-elfin-gloves-these-teeny-tiny-sweaters-works-ar/799595001/ |archive-date=November 10, 2017 |url-status=live}}

Althea Crome's knitted pieces have been featured in museums such as the National Museum of Toys and Miniatures and the Kentucky Gateway Museum Center. One of her works, The Nativity, a miniature sweater with a design based on the birth of Jesus won third place for the 2017 Barbara Marshall Award for Artistic Achievement.{{cite web |title=Fine-scale Miniature Artists Honored with the Barbara Marshall Award for Artistic Achievement |url=https://kcstudio.org/fine-scale-miniature-artists-honored-barbara-marshall-award-artistic-achievement/ |website=KC Studio |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171223170605/https://kcstudio.org/fine-scale-miniature-artists-honored-barbara-marshall-award-artistic-achievement/ |archive-date=December 23, 2017 |date=October 4, 2017 |url-status=live}} She is a fellow of the International Guild of Miniature Artisans, which is dedicated to the creation of miniature art.

Crome lives in Bloomington, Indiana. She has four children.

{{reflist}}

• {{official website|https://www.altheacrome.com/}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crome, Althea}}

Category:American people in knitting

Category:1965 births

Category:American miniaturists

Category:People from Bloomington, Indiana

Category:Respiratory therapists

Category:21st-century American women textile artists