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Saturday, December 31, 2016

Fall Arms


This marks the final installation of the arms that I sewed. For every season in 2016, I installed the arms in the forest behind the house I grew up in. I started with winter and ended with fall, which is what the above pictures are from. For the final season, I decided to attach the arms to a large piece of avocado dyed fabric I had dyed in summer. As it stands, this is my favorite configuration of the arms, attached to the fabric. Subsequently, fall is my favorite season of the year. The light and landscape is at its best for me. 

Saturday, December 17, 2016

Garter Stitch

It's been awhile now that I've wanted to learn how to knit. Last month I watched this beginner knitting video made by Wool and the Gang  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o8scF8cgm0E and finally started knitting using a basic garter stitch. A garter stitch is a basic pattern created by knitting every row, versus purling every row. "When making a knit stitch, the yarn is held at the back of the fabric. The needle is inserted into the stitch from front to back, and left to right. This is referred to as inserting the needle “knitwise.” When making a purl stitch, the yarn is held at the front of the fabric. The needle is inserted into the stitch from back to front, from right to left. This is called inserting the needle “purlwise.”"

The first scarf I started was with some thin purple yarn. However, I noticed as I stitched more and more rows my scarf was steadily getting wider and wider. After researching beginner knitting mistakes, I realized that I was knitting in such a way that I was adding an extra stitch in each row. Also, my stitches were so tight that I could barely get my needle through to continue knitting. I started on another scarf, in another thicker, tan yarn. I loosened myself up and didn't add any extra stitches. What I enjoy most about knitting is the fact that I can work in short bursts when I have time and that the materials it takes to knit are extremely portable. The process moves along quickly.