Cable frenzy

The knitting goes on. Having a go at cable - this is a bit full on as it's all cable and I'm knitting with two yarns at the same time to make it thicker. Quite hard work. I may end up having the most eccentric yoga mat bag in town...

The Victorian House of Arts and Crafts

 

Six makers - a bladesmith, an embroiderer, a product designer, a cabinet maker, a silversmith and a ceramicist - dressed up in Victorian garb and stuffed into an old house for a month to make items items in the Arts and Crafts style. Using only the tools, processes and materials of the time and trying to recapture Morris's ethos of finding joy and community in work... this is my kind of reality TV. What's not to like? A thoroughly enjoyable series. 

Episode one is no longer available but catch two, three and four here.

Say it with flowers

Here's a simple pop-up I made recently. The flowers and cover are monoprinted front and back.
 

Back to pop-ups

About time I put the knitting needles down and got back to some artwork. Here's the beginnings of something I'm tinkering with. What's it going to be...?

Hat number three

I can't stop knitting hats! This one is a beret with pie crust stitching on the band. I particularly like the pattern on the top created by decreasing.

 
The great thing about hats is that they're really quick to do so you can try lots of different stitches and techniques without getting bogged down in big projects. Bigger projects coming soon though...

A whole lot of knitting going on...

Spent a lot of time knitting over Christmas and New Year. Produced two hats, the massively over sized one knitted on circular needles (see post on 1 January), and this one... which is way too small! Shame really as I like the way it turned out. This is bramble or raspberry stitch which is very satisfying to do. Had to frog it and start again half way through as it took me a while to get the hang of it. Need to keep counting the stitches to make sure you're not going astray. 

Now I need to work on getting the gauge right so I can make a hat that actually fits...

New project - pop-up Pegasus

 

 
New pop-up project underway. It's kind of stalled though as I'm not sure how to do the legs. Hmm.
 

Started the new year in the best way with a morning walk along the beach. Road tested the hat I've been knitting... oops, made it a bit too big. It only took a week and I'm pleased with how it knitted - apart from the fact that it's HUGE of course. It's a sockhead beanie so supposed to be big and slouchy but it needs some elastic in the ribbing. Hopefully that will help. Otherwise, it may have to become a bag or something. Hatty New Year!

The year is nearly over...

 
















Blog posts were a bit infrequent in 2017 so for this year, I set myself a target of writing five posts a month - which I've managed to do. Some of them are a bit thin as I was scratching around a bit for things to write about at times. It's been a good way to make sure I note all the creative things I've been involved in so that I don't look back over the year and feel despondent about how little I've achieved artistically.

It's actually been a really busy year with various things going on through the artists' group. We had the North and South Print Exchange with Falkland Island Printmakers, the Wayzgoose in September, 20:20 Print Exchange and our new outdoor sketching sessions. There has been the usual teaching too which I always really enjoy.

My work outside that has changed direction somewhat with the papier mache 'Thing' and my venture into pop-ups. I'm particularly pleased with the Minotaur and his labyrinth Hoping to push the pop-ups further in 2019 so watch this space. See you in the new year!

Knitting progress

Got bored with granny squares so am knitting a scarf, just to get my 10,000 stitches in. Getting better but don't look too closely as there are some unusual 'features'... Half-day knitting workshop coming up in January so hopefully I can learn some useful tips. Lots of great videos on YouTube though.

Pop-up books

Was given a couple of great books for my birthday in the Autumn. ABC3D by Marion Bataille is a fabulous alphabet in, well, 3D. Ingenious paper engineering and pop-ups of every sort. I tried taking pictures but this YouTube video of how the book works is much better.

 
The Art of Pop-up by Jean-Charles Trebbi is an excellent review of pop-ups and paper engineers from around the world. There's also a great timeline showing the history and development of pop-up books. A book to go back to time and time again.

A different kind of project

Decided to have a go at knitting last week. The Aged P used to knit all the time when I was a kid and up until I was about 20, she catered for the whole family's knitwear needs. 

As you can see, I got off to rather a rocky start. Began with 20 stitches, dropped several along the way, ended up with 27... What...?! I am practising, practising, practising though and there's definitely some improvement. Long way to go before I will reach my goal of being able to knit sweaters but if there's one thing I've learnt from etching, it's that patience and perseverance wins out in the end.
 

Nearing completion

Third and final minotaur under construction, then this variable edition will be complete. It's been a time-consuming, fiddly project but very satisfying and I've learnt a lot. Time for a new project though.

Kas Williams at Mottisfont Open 2018

This book sculpture by Kas Williams caught my eye a few weeks ago on a visit to Mottisfont Open Exhibition 2018 (I'm a bit behind with this post - the exhibtion has finished now). 

'My work with paper is a question into the definition of a book, an exploration into their potential as sculptural objects and the tactile transformation that brings. It is a life after reading.' Kas Williams

 

Soft ground etching day

We had a great day on Saturday soft ground etching at Red Hot Press. Here are some of the lovely prints the students produced.