Posts Tagged ‘yarn’
What am I covering up?
March 24, 2020
Are you safe?
I am really not sure how much help these face masks would be against diseases, but they are an interesting use of fiber.
What am I fishing for?
March 20, 2019
Brighton, England-based textile artist Kate Jenkins has been recreating veggies, seafood, and other favorite foods in wool for the last 12 years. Jenkins got her start in knitwear design, but has begun to focus on knitting feasts rather than fashions. In 2015 Jenkins made her largest installation to date, crocheting dozens of sardines, mussels, clams, shrimp, prawns, lobsters, crabs and other delights from the sea for a full-size fish counter titled “Kate’s Place” at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Dublin. For inspiration Jenkins knits or crochets from life, always purchasing the food she plans on recreating for accurate scale and texture.
What am I knitting?
December 13, 2018
Or, more correctly, crocheting . . .
“For this year’s i Light Marina Bay Festival, a sustainability-focused, Singapore-based spectacle, Choi+Shine Architects created The Urchins, a series of 3 interactive installations. The crochet sea urchin sculptures have been meticulously crafted by hand, offering attendees a one-of-a-kind immersive experience.
Speaking to the event’s theme of sustainability. each 56-foot-tall work of interactive art symbolizes the beauty and diversity of nature. Though, at night, the works are spotlit by artificial luminescence, during the day, The Urchins rely on natural light to cast ephemeral, ever-changing shadows. Similarly, each suspended sculpture organically moves when touched by the wind or even visitors, who are invited to handle the polyester cords and panels that compose it.
Given their large scale, creating each sea urchin was no small feat. Hand-crafting the delicate shells required a team of 50 and took nearly 3 months to complete. While they were only on display for the 3-week duration of the festival, it’s clear that each lacy installation made a lasting impression.”
What am I knitting?
January 30, 2018
“In the United States and abroad, wartime has long involved knitters. Especially before women were involved in combat, they were encouraged to support troops from home by knitting necessary items for soldiers such as socks and hats. Since knitting was a very common sight, nobody would think of knitting as a suspicious activity. But knitting and espionage have a certain connection throughout history.
Let’s go way back to the Revolutionary War in the United States. As British troops took over the homes of colonials during the war, these people became less than pleased. One such dissatisfied rebel was Molly “Mom” Rinker of Philadelphia. Troops quartered themselves in her house and did not allow the men of the household into the dining area, but Molly was allowed in to serve the troops. It was here that she listened closely to their conversations. She would then write the information down on a small piece of paper, wrap it around a stone, and wrap yarn around the stone until she had a very normal-looking ball of yarn. She would take this yarn ball to a rock overlooking some woods. There she would sit and knit, dropping the ball of yarn off the rock and into the woods below without notice. One of George Washington’s men would ride by and grab the yarn to learn British military secrets.
“During World War I, another yarn-equipped informant helped the Allies. A Frenchwoman named Madame Levengle would sit in front of her window and knit. As she knitted, she would watch troop movements from the window and tap her feet on the floor to send codes to her children pretending to do schoolwork on the floor below. The children would write down the codes, and all went unnoticed by nearby German marshals the whole time.
In World War II, an infamous American spy named Elizabeth Bentley used knitting to disguise her espionage as well. She ran two spy rings that sent damaging information about the United States to the Soviet Union, and she would sneak documents to the Soviets in her knitting bag.
Phyllis Latour Doyle was a secret agent for Britain during WWII. She parachuted into Normandy in 1944 and chatted with German soldiers, acting as a friendly helper. But then she knitted messages to the British, which they translated using Morse Code. Knitting coded messages is a form of steganography, which is a way to physically hide messages. A specific combination of knit and purl stitches could be translated into messages.
While knitting coded messages was less common than using knitting to disguise suspicious activity, codes in knitting were still a threat. The Belgian Resistance during World War II recruited women who had windows overlooking railway yards. They were to note the German train movements with their knitting: Purl one for one type of train, drop one for another. During World War II, the Office of Censorship in the United States banned people from posting knitting patterns abroad, since the instructions could in fact disguise military secrets.
Next time you suspect someone might not give knitters the respect they deserve, make sure to set them straight with the radical history of wartime knitters!”
What am I knitting?
January 25, 2018
“Over the last four years, photographer Joseph Ford (previously) has collaborated with friend and knitter Nina Dodd to create a project that blends models into their environments rather than having them stand out. Each subject wears a custom hand-knit sweater by Dodd that transforms their torso, partially camouflaging their body into a highly textured wall, striped running track, or for one pooch—the leaves of dense shrub.
The series, Knitted Camouflage, also features a collaboration with French street artist Monsieur Chat who painted one of his trademark cats on the wall of a derelict factory for the photographer.”
I love this stuff.
What am I knitting this time?
April 12, 2017
Kniterate is a compact industrial knitting machine created for designers and entrepreneurs that facilitates the one-off creation of garments. Built by London-based designer Gerard Rubio, Kniterate is meant to act as a sort of 3D printer for knitwear, allowing you to create digital designs in Photoshop and turn them into a wearable garments in just a few hours. The machine is capable of knitting scarves, sweaters, dresses, ties, or even the components of shoes. Kniterate could dramatically reduce lead time for a fashion business or design school in need of quick prototyping, or help a more ambitious artist in the fabrication a completely unique wardrobe. Learn more over on Kickstarter. (via Inhabitat, Make:)
Kniterate is a kickstarter campaign – reblogged from Colossal
Gunsmoke and Knitting 