14/4/14

Today mainly consisted of creating knit samples. I didn't know how to know until today as I taught my self, mainly through watching YouTube tutorials from one particular Youtuber Good Knit Kisses. 

I found these extremely helpful and straight forward. So after creating a few practice samples in order for me to get the hang of the craft I started using the wools that I had bought. I knew these yarns would be more difficult to work with as the first one was a lavender/purple yarn it has an interesting texture as its size varies, going from thin to thick then thin again and so on. The needles I used are 12mm so quite large which means there are larger gaps in between the weave. So the overall aesthetic of the sample was really interesting as well as having a unique texture due to the yarns varying size and large gaps. I like this look because it's different from the usual tight close knit. Although I do feel that due to the type of yarn  and the gaping it does look a little bit messy. But for now as a sample I'm pleased with it, as I can work on different ways of making it interesting such as placing fabrics behind it. Or even mixing it with a different yarn. Considering the idea of mixing different yarns I moved on to my second yarn as I wanted to see how easy it was to work with. This yarn is white with a metallic thread running through it that is frayed. It was quite difficult to work with due to the multiple strands however once I had the hang of it I actually found it easier to handle than the purple yarn. Also the overall aesthetic of this sample was much more pleasing as you couldn't see any gaps making it look a lot better. 

With both samples finished I decided to combine the two. I did this the same way I would knit with a single yarn however always making sure I looped over both yarns at the same time. I was expecting this to be difficult to work with but actually it was quite simple and once it was finished I felt it looked good because you could mainly see the metallic wool but there were elements of purple, which made it intriguing to look at due to the two different surfaces and colours. 

Making these three samples took me the majority of the day, I understand that the samples took me a lot longer than it should've done but as I only learnt today I think it's ok, but I do realise that I am working quite slowly yet I feel that my knitting skills are developing quickly and as I am learning I am able to knit quicker. Tomorrow I hope to develop the knits into possible initial ideas as I am beginning to imagine how the knits could be worn on the body.