Inspiration from Wallpaper of the Past

These are a couple of images of the Wonderwall exhibition. I love the silk used to cover the walls, and the detail of the bird illustrations on the wallpaper. The hand painted quality of these wall coverings that is old but has maintained its colour and charm to the present day.

Maps and Scrapbook

I have decided to create a map which shows where the squares have been arriving from. And keeping a scrapbook of communication with knitters, along with interesting envelopes and packaging. I have also been getting a few images of the knitters and people have sent extra information. Everyone has been so helpful and got involved. It has been so nice getting peoples stories.

Many Squares

These are the squares from my Knit a Square Project. I currently have 160 and more are arriving! This shows people are knitting, love to knit and want to knit! I am going to use these knits to put together the blankets/garments as part of my project and look at donating them to charity.

Within my project I am exploring the concept of Knit as a living art, and researching how this skill is passed down through generations. I have set my own knit a square project and initially had the outcome as charity blankets. Through looking into square patterns this idea has been generated. Looking at a traditionally patterned garment. This sample has been made using sqaures of Yorkshire pattern. Taken from a book about Ganseys and how local areas are represented through the use of pattern. I would like to explore this concept further and develop my own version of pattern.

Yorkshire Sculpture Park

A bit of outdoor research, sculpture and sunshine at the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

Just a couple of knit samples, these are taken from the traditional patterns of the Yorkshire seaside ganseys. The patterns are symbolic representations of the area such as the nets and the sand. The different combinations of these patterns are representations of specific places such as Flamborough, Scarborough and Filey. This process was used as a method of identification for fishermen lost at sea so it was possible to find out where they were from.

Above is an image of some nice hand spun wool. Some is from a fleece that I have washes and prepared and some from a selection of different fibres. The intention is to knit this into some sort of representation of Yorkshire. I have been exploring the gansey patterns of the Yorkshire coastal towns and villages and want to incorporate this element of meaning into the knitted outcomes.