From UK Music magazine, MOJO, April 2000

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The Knitting Machine Turns You On

Haberdashery - Deep Purple in Wool? Call rock knitter Liz Powner. By Lois Wilson.

There's more to knitting than the ill-fitting jumpers your granny gave you every Christmas. So claims Liz Powner - the mild mannered haberdasher from North London who has been knitting rock'n'roll icons for the last eight years.
"My first commission was a Syd Barrett doll. He was pretty bad, though. It was just a guy with brown curly hair. I didn't even give him any feet!" she laughs. Liz's roster also includes The Who ("Pete Townshend is the only doll so far to actually have a nose. I can't tell you how it's made as it's a trade secret and far too technical for MOJO"), The Byrds ("I chose the from cover of Mr Tambourine Man because I wanted to include Gene Clark. It meant I couldn't do David Crosby in his green cape, though"), Jimi Hendrix and Donovan ("A real hippie in a psychedelic Kaftan with embroidery and sandals".
As the orders flooded in the dolls became more complex. "It's good to try and get across some of the bands personality. I get the facial features as accurate as possible. I look at photos or video clips of people and look for their physical flaws that make them unique. With the Beatles in their Sgt. Pepper gear, you can pretty much put any four people in those outfits and they will look like The Beatles. I prefer a harder challenge.
MOJO couldn't resist. How about a 1970 Led Zeppelin - all beards, waistcoasts and flowing lock, please? "I'd never encountered any problems until I started doing them," Liz confesses. "They continually changed their appearance. They go from looking relatively normal in brown 70's suits to totally outrageous embroidered things that they only wore a couple of times. Some of the outfits are impossible to replicate in wool - really way-out fabric!" Surprisingly, Liz doesn't use a pattern. "I just make them up. The pop stars all have the same basic body shape, based on the Nursery Rhyme characters Little Boy Blue, Little Miss Muffett and Little Bo Peep that I saw in a knitting magazine once."
And for the future? "I want to do Roy Wood with big hair and spangly gear, also Slade, a big Mama Cass in her yellow rain mac, and John & Yoko in their white wedding clothes. I can't wait to do Yoko's Japanese eyes. The more bizarre the better"

Article written by Lois Wilson appeared in MOJO Magazine, Issue no. 77 - April 2000 edition, page 24-25

Here's a picture of the Led Zeppelin dolls I made for them...