Saturday 1 May 2010

Blast from the Past

knit cro blog week banner
Day Six: Revisit a past F/O; Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that you did but just didn’t like that much…

The 'Finished Object' (FO) I've chosen is one that ended up being quite significant. It was also a project that was a departure from what I usually make. It was actually a special request from a lovely lady who had seen pictures of my Space Invader scarves. These are made from Merino lambswool on my vintage mechanichal Knitmaster knitting machine with Fair Isle aliens, then felted, and the floats cut. So quite different really to an equivalent hand knit. She asked if I could design and make a Pac-Man scarf.

I said yes, of course. Nothing like a challenge to get your creative juices flowing! Ultimately it was agreed that the level of detailing required the scarf to be hand knitted. What I love about the old-school games is the simple pixel images translate remarkably well into knitting patterns because of their geometric composition.

ms pac man motif
I had not hand knitted many motifs in this manner before that point, so it was a great way to build up my confidence getting the balance of tension right between the different yarns and stranding the non-working colour across the back of the design.
It's a design I spent quite a bit of time trying to get right, and it was definitely worth it.

After that, I suppose it was only a matter of time before someone asked me to make a scarf with the ghosts on it! I was glad to be asked because it was an idea I'd actually had floating around in my head for a good while before being asked to design it.

pinky the ghostie scarf
Turns out it too was quite a hit! One incarnation of this Pinky scarf even ended up in the UK DIY exhibition, I'm very proud to say.

3 comments:

Vivianne said...

LOL I don't think there'll be a shortgae of people wanting these scarves :-)

Cat McLaughlin said...

Thanks! Nice of you to say :)

Unknown said...

Love the scarves!!!!