I chose to do knitting. I can’t crochet and I’m not much good at knitting either. I’m even worse after tennis elbow in my right arm and I’ve sewn through my finger on my left hand, very painful.
I knitted with very different sized needles, as suggested. Easy to do, but must keep the knitting loose so it slides off the largest needle easily.
I chose to use craft lolly sticks next. I used cotton yarn, which kept catching on small nicks on the lolly sticks. They were ok to knit with, just need to keep adjusting each row so the stitches sit nicely on the sticks.
Rulers next – again, the stitches need to be kept loose so they slide easily onto the rulers, but overall, not bad to knit with.
Next, I used pencils. Probably the easiest to knit with so far, the closest to using knitting needles.
So far, my knitting has been a bit boring and I’m conscious that the brief is to be ‘innovative’, so since I’m not too good at knitting, I’m hoping that in this and the following picture, my use of implements are innovative, even if the knitting itself isn’t.
So I chose a spatula and wooden spork. I used extra thick yarn as I thought it suited the items best. It was surprisingly easy to knit and I enjoyed doing it.
For the last of the unusual implements, I used flip flops! Thought I best show a picture to demonstrate. You obviously can’t have many stitches, due to the area available to knit on, so I think I had around eight. It was actually ok to knit on.
I then need to knit with unconventional materials.
Firstly, I used mesh tubing. I’d never heard of this before, used in craft apparently. Fairly easy to use, but stretches over the needles, making it look thinner, which is a bit of a shame as it looses some of its shape.
Next, I used plastic boning. This behaves as you’d think – really awful to handle, stiff and inflexible. Stitches were difficult to pull over the needle.
Strimmer cord was much easier than the boning but the whole piece curls up, much like the two previous samples.
Next, I used rubber tubing. I was a bit disappointed when it arrived, as I pictured it bigger than this. It feels more like a plastic washing line than rubber. It casts on well, looks good, good to knit with and I wish I had more as it ran out quite quickly.
The raffia paper was another easy knit. Luckily, there was plenty to do a decent sized sample and it didn’t curl up as much as the previous samples.
This sample was made from an old T-shirt. I cut long strips around an inch wide and knotted the strips together, making a continuous ball of yarn. It was really easy to knit with, on large needles.
I prepared this bin liner yarn much like the T-shirt yarn. I cut wide strips out, then knotted it all together. I’ve knitted with plastic bags before and I love how the knitting feels much softer than you’d imagine.
My final sample is bubble wrap yarn. The strips were smaller than an inch as I didn’t have much to knit with. This unfortunately made the yarn quite fragile and it tended to break. Using it loosely helped it not to stretch too much, but I still managed to drop quite a few stitches.
Sketches
When I started this section, I was taking a break from the earlier part of the assignment as I was having trouble identifying a theme and colour palette. I got on with the rest of the work whilst seeking inspiration so its important to note that the materials I chose may not match my palette and theme.
I found it quite easy to knit with most of the objects I choose as my needles. The loose knitting was my favourite as I found the normal gauged knitting rather bland and neat in comparison. I had wanted to try arm knitting as I thought it looked rather quirky, but with injuries to both my left hand and right arm, it proved a bit too tricky.
With the unconventional materials, some were easier to knit than the others and I have a few favourites based on the visual outcome; the mesh tubing , the strimmer cord and the rubber tubing. They have an appearance of ‘organised mess’ which appeals to me. I also like the t-shirt yarn as I could imagine a garment made from it. The worst one to make was the bubble wrap strips as it was so fragile to knit with.
The seventies was a mix of both earthy and garish colours. It was also full of man made textiles, polyester, nylon and various plastics; not much from natural materials. The samples that best reflect the theme, would be the dark brown samples knitted on rulers and also the knitting on flip flops, due to the colour. The sample knitted on the wooden spatula and spork, also fit colour wise, as the mix of colours contain some elements from my chosen palette. With regard to man made materials, I would include the bin liner and strimmer cord, if I had used the correct colour scheme.
Ideas & Processes 