knitting

Oops, I had no idea it'd been that long since I last posted! Must keep up to date...

Well, the latest news is that I bought a knitting machine! My lounge is covered with bits of it at the moment. I'm in the middle of getting to grips with it, but life keeps getting in the way! I wonder how long it'll be before I actually knit something on it...

I hope it works *crosses fingers*, I got it on ebay. Not always had the greatest luck there, especially with cheap things, but we'll see..

Here it is:

Machine, manuals, ribber, lace carriage, knit tracer, yarns, weights, combs, tools, punch cards - £36! Not bad :)

It's taken me *days* to figure out how to put the stand together (and I'm still not sure I'm doing it right). I still can't figure out how to put the ribber on. Ooh, I wonder if it'll say in the manual? Heh, it's only taken me all evening to think of that!

More samples

Just a quick update, here is the first sample that I left out of yesterday's post:


The felted one didn't quite turn out how I expected but it'll do! Here's the before shot:


After:


I should probably do some more tomorrow. The whole day is self-directed, which is good in a way, but it means that it's all too easy to end up not going in! Especially because I live so far away, it takes me between an hour and an hour and a half to get there :( I could've done them today if I would've known that this afternoon's lecture was going to start an hour later than usual. We have an extra hour on top of lunch as it is! I don't know what it is about Tuesdays, but three weeks out of the last four, classes have either been cancelled or delayed and don't get me started on public transport! Apparently the buses are always messed up on a Tuesday, how odd!

First post

Hello The World! I am Claire and I've started this blog to document my progress in the world of textile design and all things crafty :) I'm currently in my second year of a three year degree, BA (hons) Contemporary Surface Design and Textiles. Last year we were introduced to knitting, embroidery, print and weave.

Our first project this semester is on the theme of Movement and we each have our own take on that - I'm doing water. Part of it is constructed textiles, (our choice between weave and knit - I've chosen knit) and the other part is printed textiles. (the structure of the project is a leeetle bit confusing! ;) But anyway..)

I am finding machine knitting to be incredibly difficult! I struggled with it last year too, but I really want to master it! The first afternoon that we started on it, doing jacquard (patterns), I spent all three hours slaving over one sample, arg!! The knitting machine really didn't like me that day I guess ;) But today I went into college to catch up on what I should've also done in the first class and I got it done without any hiccups, yaaaay! It's a small achievement, but at least I'm getting somewhere!

I was going to include a pic of my first sample of jacquard but I've left it at college, oops! I'll have to come back to that. Sooo, here is a sample where I used a lycra yarn for the pattern (I think the background one was acrylic). It was then steamed using an iron. It's just a pattern out of the book, to practice with:



Ta da! I love how it's gathered, I might use that in a design....

We've also learned how to design our own patterns. I wanted to experiment with text (you have to program it in backwards - takes me forever for I am of small brain, hehe!) so I just programmed in the course initials, CSDT, but I did it too small and close together. However, this produced an interesting vertical pattern! Or so my tutor said :) So here it is:


Hmm, uploading photos isn't very user-friendly is it?! Or is it just me? Anyway, yes, if you look closely you can see it says CSDT but if you don't look closely then it just looks like a pattern! (please ignore the hole, ahem!)

I am currently felting another one, the pattern yarn is wool and the background one is acrylic again (I think) so hopefully just the pattern will have felted! I'll post a before and after pic when it's done.

Right then, I think that'll do for now :) Night night.