Structure and Attachment | Knitting Workshop

My first few attempts at knitwear went awfully, especially casting on took a while to get right. The majority of the techniques were fiddly but once I got the hang of them, they became much more natural and quick to do. I really enjoyed knitwear as all the skills seems extremely complicated at first, but in a very short amount of time you were able to see your technique and time seriously improving. In particular my first attempt at 'honeycombing' went horrifically, the lines and holes weren't lined up and were uneven and I kept dropping stitches, but then through attempting to fix it, I ended up with a series of threads and knots over my sample, unsuccessful to say the least. By the end of the week however, I also taught myself to re-loop a dropped stitch meaning if I made a mistake the sample wasn't ruined.

Ironically after hating the 'honeycomb' technique at first because I couldn't get it right it turned out to be one of my favourites. (it can be seen in both samples) It was double sided in the sense that it looked good either way as look as it was made neat. One main tip I learnt from attempting this technique was not to rush it as the threads are delicate and they snap, which meant it had to be started again which wasted time. The other tip I picked up, particularly with honeycombing, was to work from the outside in, this ensured the lines were even and the sample was kept neat and tidy. This was true to hemming samples too. Another skill I struggled with but soon came to enjoy was 'lace holds' or better know as 'lace knitting'. These dainty holds could be used to line the hem in a jagged style (seen in right sample) or using the technique to design patterns in the fabric. We started off by learning to do a diamond, and I attempted a 'heart' which was unsuccessful as I dropped too many stitches and it fell apart, however I also tried a staggered ladder 'skyline' which looked great so I used it in my final sample.

I felt I succeeded in knitwear and picked it up relatively quickly, as I have knitted by hand in the past I thought I wouldn't enjoy the weeks workshop, however to my amazement I really enjoyed it and am now considering incorporating it into my final project or even part-studying it at Degree level. 

I received positive feedback from my partner and in the final show of everyone's work, one of my designs was picked as a favourite. (The left sample) Being able to see everyone's designs together was beneficial, as we evaluated the good, or bad in each, I could see the broad range of ways that each simple technique could be incorporated together to create designs. One of my favourites simply changed the tension when she swapped yarns which created a dipped effect, these indents could be translated into so many different designs and were easy to create. I hope to return to working with the knitting machines where I can try out some combination designs I saw and made myself again.Mixing the techniques and creating new techniques and patterns was something I enjoyed learning, for example using 'lace holds' to create shapes or ladders in the sample. Or mixing stripes (two yarns) with honeycomb to produce pronounced stripes, all these combinations gave me ideas for garments or details on garments. 

Some design combinations would have looked better simply through matching yarns more thoughtfully, the best samples used similar colours, or the same colour in different tones or yarns, this looked much more professional. In my samples we chose a bright blue with a muted cream beige colour, I thought these complimented each other well. However when incorporating the fringing, I decided on a gold yarn which I don't think worked, I should have used silvery/grey tones or a thicker yarn. I planned out my final samples on paper before which was practical as it meant my final products looked well finished.

Working with someone else on the machine was great as we could help each other and learn from each others mistakes. However it also slowed us down a lot meaning we could only create three final samples together as opposed to four.