ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the making of knitted fabrics and their implications for conceptualising surfaces from an anthropological standpoint. Contrary to notions of surfaces as superficial, the chapter shows that they have depth in textural, cultural and social terms. The case of knitting furthermore reveals the impossibility to draw boundaries between the internal and the external, pointing to a continual emanation of relations. Looking at a technique hitherto largely overlooked in anthropological literature thus offers fresh views on the (social and cultural) specificities of the resulting surfaces and enriches our understanding of surfaces altogether.
