Adornment

Day Seven: Embellish the story.

I can't believe it's the last day of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week again, already! This week has really flown by but it's been a lot of fun and I've very much enjoyed reading the blogs of other crafters taking part too.

Most folks are covering "your knitting and crochet time" today, but as I did a post last year which I feel would be a bit too similar, I have gone for the wildcard topic which will hopefully make for a more interesting read!

I'll be honest here, I don't really do huge amounts of embellishment on my knits as I like them to have fairly clean, classic lines. An obvious example is these shell buttons which finished off a pair of shoes neatly:


There have been, however, have a few memorable occasions where I have had a bit of a play around with some ideas!

When I was working on pieces for my degree show, I experimented with knitting on huge needles and creating my own yarns from strips of fabric sewn together - I decided to make the stitched joins a feature, using zig-zagging contrasting thread:


Around the same time, I also tried various ways of embedding fibres into knitted woollen fabrics, using needlepunch and hand felting techniques:






...and finally: you'll probably think me a little bit nutty for including this, but I'm going to incorporate it anyway for the fun factor!


In case you're wondering, they're meant to be 'textile art' and were made for a Comic Relief challenge project several years back ;)

Living in Dreamland

Day Six: Something to aspire to.

I have seen many knitted things, but one which really stopped me in my tracks was this knitted *ballgown*. The pattern is called Arwen and is quite simply, utterly divine.



I really don't think I will ever find the time (and patience) to make this Thing of Wonder...I can but dream! *sigh*

Pinch, punch - first of the month!

Day Five: And now for something completely different...

I decided to create a flash animation for today's post - I made two variations but couldn't choose between them, so I have uploaded both!



Yarn-obsession + knowledge of flash = Yarn animation! (Yarnimation?!)

Transformative Knits

Day Four: Where are they now? Whatever happened to your _____?

In last year's Knitting & Crochet Blog Week, I wrote about how my creations ended up in the UK DIY exhibition.

I also briefly mentioned Marianne Jorgensen's pink tank cosy which was featured as part of the Craftivism section in the exhibition.

I'm happy to say I contributed a knitted pink square which went into that very same tank cosy! I know it sounds small and insignificant, but together with others who contributed, I like to think the overall result was thought-provoking and memorable. I made a short film clip of the video installation at the exhibition (excuse the awful sound quality):



Over 4,000 knitted and crocheted 15 x 15 cm squares from crafty types all over the world went into making the cosy for a combat tank which was used in WWII. The basis for this installation was a form of protest against Denmark's (also the UK & USA's) involvement with the war in Iraq.

The tank, complete with pink cosy and a pom-pom (!) hanging off the end of the cannon, was situated outside the Nikolaj Contemporary Art Center in Copenhagen in April 2006. As Marianne says, "When [the tank] is covered in pink, it becomes completely unarmed and it loses it's authority. Pink becomes a contrast in both material and color when combined with the tank."

Click to find out more about: Craftivism (definition) | Marianne Jorgensen | The UK DIY movement!

(Dis)organised Chaos

Day Three: Tidy mind, tidy stitches.

I have to say, in all honesty, Ravelry is one of the best things to happen to my knitting! I can actually use it to keep an eye on how my projects are progressing...
...and it has several useful tools to help you keep tabs. There's a virtual bookshelf/library which is quite fun and a nice reminder of the books you own...


...as well as a handy chart to record your knitting needles and/or crochet hooks. I quite like to keep track of my (ever-mounting) yarn stash and the Ravelry way is wonderfully visual, as you are able to upload photos of your fibrey finds.


Aside from the virtual world, I have so much yarn, it barely fits inside a (dedicated) wardrobe! Part of the problem is that not only do I hand knit, I also machine knit - I own two domestic, vintage mechanical Knitmaster machines - which means, yep, you guessed it - more yarn. In cones, and larger quantities...not to mention other equipment that goes with them. It's small wonder that I have a storage unit too!


I have a couple of knitting bags which I absolutely love - both for storage and as a way of carting my projects about with me when I'm on the go (or even just around the house!).


This was an absolute find - a super-cute vintage knitting bag! A great size for travelling too, as it fits inside my suitcase if need be:


For my pins, I have two pretty knitting needle rolls...


...and a little bag for notions that I made myself, like a giant purse or modified pencil case:


...but where's the yarn, you say? I have rather a lot, but some is kept in a unit with big plastic drawers. One of my favourite drawers is this one full of Rowan Kidsilk Haze (with a dash of Kidsilk Night thrown in for good measure!).


I generally like to keep similar fibre types or weights together. Here is my 4 ply bag:


I made the bag from one of my machine knitted fabrics, but I'm lazy and didn't line it! This is what the outside looks like:


Oh, and the kitten knitting bag is full of summery yarns too:


I have so much more yarn, in various bags and boxes but there simply aren't enough hours in the day! I think I might just have a *slight* yarn addiction, ha ha!

P.S. If you want to look me up, my Ravelry user name is catameringue :)

A Knitter's Progress

Day Two: Skill + 1UP

There was a project I had been working on within the last few months, and when I briefly looked over it (as I generally do with most patterns) before deciding to tackle it, I didn't see anything that I felt I couldn't "cope" with - then when I actually got down to knitting it, I was bewildered to see it actually called for a 'ssk' which is an abbreviation for 'slip, slip, knit' - help!

What really got me was that I have done plenty of lace knitting and things which involve increasing and/or decreasing but somehow had never actually come across this particular technique...and therefore didn't know how to do it. Minor panic ensued whilst I tried to use logic to work out just quite how exactly one is supposed to proceed.

Turns out it's not actually as obvious as it sounds, since the notation requires you to slip two stitches in a knitwise direction and then knit them together. Queue youtube to the rescue!


A great tutorial, simply explained and demonstrated, really makes all the difference when learing a new technique.

I'm also happy to report that I've started playing around with some cabling ideas in recent weeks and I'm pretty pleased with the results so far:

A Tale of Two Yarns

Welcome to Day 1 of Knitting & Crochet Blog Week (mark II!).


Day One: A Tale of Two Yarns.

I very much enjoy experimenting with different fibres and blends, especially as it can often spark off new ideas. Some fibres, however are just not made to work together...


Above you will see a quantity of knitting. Looks harmless enough, doesn't it? Well, that's what I thought... This yarn was called Silk Cotton - 47% cotton and 53% silk - twisted together and it just about made me go 'round the twist, argh! I only knitted part of a small swatch...urgh. It was like working with rope, *dry-clean only* (!) and to top it off, left blue dye all over my lovely Brittany Birch knitting needles. I was more than a little hacked off, unsurprisingly.

On a brighter note though, I found that wool and bamboo got on like a house on fire. You get nice stitch definition, as well as the elasticity of wool combined with the silken sheen of bamboo, which makes for a very happy marriage indeed!