I decided to study knitting for my textile study, since the structure has fascinated me for a long time. I began by scanning and photographing some samples of knitting I had around the house.
I tried to examine the structure of each of the two stitches: garter stitch and stocking stitch. However, my samples were too close in tension to see the whole structure and I could only draw the surface appearance of the stitch.
First I looked at garter stitch. It appeared to me to look like a series of rows of crescent shapes, with alternate rows upside down. After drawing garter stitch in pencil, I made a crescent shaped print block with Funky Foam and used it to print how the surface of the fabric looked.
Next I looked closely at stocking stitch. I thought it looked like a series of columns of regular v-shapes. I tried again to make a print block from Funky Foam, but the v-shapes were too fat, so I made a new block and tried again.
I remembered that I had a larger v-shaped print block left over from Module 1 work and so tried it to give a different scale of pattern.
The next thing I need to do is to knit some garter stitch and stocking stitch samples using a thin, smooth cord and large needles, so that the tension is much looser and I will be able to examine the structure of the knitting stitches.
(I had done all this work before I read Anita Bruce's wonderful article on "Knitting as Drawing" in the September issue of "Workshop on the Web". See Anita Bruce's blog
http://www.anitabruce.tumblr.com/ and her website
http://www.anitabruce.co.uk/ to admire her wonderful work. Honestly I did come up with my sketchbook idea independently!!)
(PS I haven't done all this work since Sian posted the details yesterday. I must admit to starting a week ago, anticipating what was to come.)
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