美国国家公共电台 NPR Sweater Selfies: Man Knits His Way Around The World

SCOTT SIMON, HOST: 

Sam Barsky of Pikesville, Md., has turned sweaters into a statement. For the past 17 years, he's knit sweaters that show places that he's seen around the world, including the Golden Gate Bridge, Stonehenge and Jerusalem's Wailing 1 Wall or a field of electrical pylons 2. But what's made Mr. Barsky an internet phenomenon with well over a million hits on various websites are photos of the knitter, the artist himself, posed in front of a scene wearing the sweater that he's knitted. Sam Barsky joins us now from member station WYPR in Baltimore. Thanks so much for being with us.

SAM BARSKY: Hi.

SIMON: Why do you do this?

BARSKY: This is what I enjoy doing. I like creating. I like replicating 3 what I see in life and what I anticipate seeing.

SIMON: I'm told you've done a 103 sweaters.

BARSKY: Yes. That's correct.

SIMON: That's a lot of wool, a lot of stitches, isn't it?

BARSKY: Yes, probably millions by now.

SIMON: Do you know what you're going to knit next?

BARSKY: Yes because Groundhog Day is coming up in early February, I'm thinking of making a sweater with a groundhog on it.

SIMON: Oh, that sounds adorable. You must get requests at this point. You've become pretty famous.

BARSKY: Yes. I'm flooded with requests, so many I can't even see all of them.

SIMON: Yeah. Do you ever fulfill 4 any?

BARSKY: I've thought about it before, but I've realized early on a long time ago that it's not practical for me to be a human sweater mill.

SIMON: (Laughter) Yeah. All right. I understand that. Well, what are some of your favorite sweaters, sweater scenes?

BARSKY: I can't say which one is my number one favorite, but some of the ones that are getting attention a lot are, like, Times Square. The Tower Bridge of London is very popular. I've done Venice, I've done Niagara Falls, just to name a few. I did one with tigers on it, and I wore it while holding a real live tiger in Thailand one time.

SIMON: Oh, my gosh. A lot of people must ask you about the electrical pylons sweater.

BARSKY: Yes. And as a matter of fact, it's the one I'm wearing right now.

SIMON: All right. Well, maybe we can get a picture of it and we can post it on our website if that's all right with you.

BARSKY: Yeah. That's fine.

SIMON: What was your artistic 5 inspiration for that? A lot of people would see a field of electrical pylons and think we ought to put a sweater over that.

BARSKY: Yes. I see them all the time in all my routine travels around the local area. They're everywhere. So pretty much anything that crosses my eyes is a potential sweater, and the pylons are no exception.

SIMON: Yeah. Is there a sweater of your dreams you'd like to do you just haven't gotten to yet?

BARSKY: Pretty much any kind of iconic landmark 6 or natural scene. It's like anything possibly - could be in my dreams. The only limitation I have is that it takes a month to make one.

SIMON: Do you ever put people's faces on a sweater, of friends maybe?

BARSKY: Doing a face of a specific person is not something I've ever attempted to do before. It's one of the things I'm working hard on figuring out how to do now as I'm working on a Martin Luther King Day sweater. I'm having a picture of the I Have A Dream speech with a picture of Dr. King standing 7 in front of the crowd.

SIMON: Well, that sounds like a very ambitious piece of art, Mr. Barsky. It really does.

BARSKY: Yeah.

SIMON: Well, Mr. Barsky, you've given a lot of people pleasure. Thank you very much for your art work and letting people see it.

BARSKY: Yes, it's my pleasure. It's my goal to share it with the world.

SIMON: Sam Barsky talking about his sweaters.