Sophie Jonas explains about her work:

All the pieces which I knitted for the award were hand knitted from enamelled copper wire and silver or gold plated copper wire. I only use a plain knit stitch or moss stitch as the patterned or cable style stitches don't really work in wire, as these usually need the thickness of yarn to show off the shape; the wire being so thin much of the impact is lost. To vary the size of the stitches I change the size of the needles, as the wire also has no stretch and so tensions is less of an issue; the 'hole' will mirror the profile of the needle pretty exactly, so for a dense finish I use small needles, even as small as 13 ( which work well but I tend to bend them into right angels); and for more open work I will use much lager sizes.

To create the two tone effect, I do what I call double knitting, where I use two colours at once and knit them in alternate stitches. On one row I will knit into the opposite colour, on the second knit into the same colour; I find this blends the two colours well together. I have tried knitting with three colours, but the wire has to be carried for too long between stitches and it tends to drag the piece together and crush it.

For pieces such as the Green mask, I make a silver frame from sterling silver rod silver soldered together and forged into shape; which the wire knitting is sew onto to control the shape and make it more wearable - in the masks the frame keeps the mesh at a comfortable distance from the face, or can also create an armature to support part of a design; but in pieces such as the Sea Queen and the corset front, I create the shapes as basically free standing whirls. This is done by knitting a straight section, usually using the double knitting technique described above as this makes a firmer mesh with more weight to it; then I cast off one colour and continue with the other; rapidly changing up the size of needles and making the mesh increase in size, and also increasing very dramatically, say into every third stitch every other row.

I also knit a row until I get to the centre; turn the needles round and knit back to the end; start again and stop a few stitches short of where I stopped before and turn the work round again and knit back the way I came. This has the effect of adding more and more material one side of the piece, causing it to grow unevenly and create asymmetrical curls with one side growing up and out more than the other. This can be most clearly seen on the Sea Queen piece.

I sometimes end up with hundreds of stitches on a row, so usually use the circular needles after a certain point, as the wire can more easily push itself off the needles than yarn.

When the piece is finished, I sometimes feed a memory wire along the finished edge, which is a very springy stainless steel wire which helps to keep the curls lively and full of movement. If the mesh is knitted on large needles and is very expansive, it makes amazing shapes but is also a little fragile and can be crushed out of shape, the memory wire helps to keep it bouncy. The beads I use, which I thread onto the wire first are a mixture of seed beads, crystals and glass beads, which I choose first and often set the mood of the piece. They are also essential when it comes to finished the ends of the wire. I am the darker haired person in the green mask, the blonde being my friend Rachel the Acid Fairy, who is a long time and patient model for a lot of my work!