WEEK 4 - KNITTING

This week I started off by booking into the knit machines. I first started on the 7-gauge doing small technical samples on wool yarns provided by the university to learn some knit techniques that could be useful for my samples. Some successful ones included creating layered ribs and line patterns, these resembled a lot of the natural patterns seen within my landscapes. After doing these samples, I knitted my first technical sample using my own spun yarn. I was very worried due to it not being fully consistent in thickness, but it worked very well on the machine. A big success! I am currently keeping my technical knit samples loose on some technical sheets, as I am unsure about their most effective placement being either mounted, in my sketchbook or in a technical file.

For my natural dye swatches, I processed more wool and felted it into a large sheet so that I can cut it into squares to dye. My swatches will be presented loosely due to my end goal to have a colour coordinated, beautiful natural dye swatch book at the end. I felt it was very fitting to use natural dyes within my project as it can replicate the natural colours seen within my landscapes. It ties in with the sustainable nature of my project also, celebrating raw natural materials and textile processes. During this week I got into contact with an artisan yarn making business called Zakumi yarns, who creates beautiful hand spun yarns inspired by natures colours. They have agreed to meet me and give me some in person advice to spinning my own yarns and their methods of dyeing them, this will happen in the next upcoming weeks as they are very busy.

This week was very busy with contacting people! I had sent an email to a company called Merrick, who have created a brand specifically creating knitted samples out of blackface sheep’s yarn. I first sent them an email in week one, and they have now replied. I arranged a phone call with the brands creator Marie and discussed with her why she created the brand and how successful it has been. Her reasons were very similar to my own, with aspects of sustainability of raw materials, and bringing back value to an overlooked material. It was very helpful discussing with her as from her brands success it showed me that there is a large market for people wanting natural wool products and value their reasonings foe it by spreading awareness.

Next week I am planning to progress my research with natural dyes, sustainability and look deeper into my context, looking into any fashion images that can give inspiration and relate to my own contexts.