Hey everyone ;-) This is a quick post on decreasing and increasing stitches in knitting.
First for increasing stitches you knit the stitch as normal leaving the original stitch on your left needle and then knit a stitch into the back of that stitch. This then creates two stitches from one stitch.
Then for decreasing stitches you go into the bottom of two stitches and knit a stitch as normal. This then takes two stitches down to one stitch. Below is a YouTube video of both techniques:
Increase and decrease stitches
Below are my own samples of this technique:
My increase and decrease sample
My increase and decrease sample 2
This sample that I have done started with four stitches and went up to fourteen and then down to four again. It is really simple when you know how to do it and it is a good way to form shapes if you wish to make a jumper etc. Thanks for reading x
Hi guys! This is my post on needle felting that I have recently learnt at college.
What you will need:
Felting needles
Needle tool/handle
Foam mat
Felt
Wool
First the health and safety for needle felting the needles are very sharp so make sure they are always stuck in the foam mat when your not using it. When pulling the needle out of the handle don't pull your fingers down the needle as it will cut you. Finally keep your eyes on what you are doing and don't accidentally stick yourself in the finger with the needle.
Felting needles
Needle tool and foam mat
To needle felt you lay your flat piece of felt that you are working with onto the foam mat. Then taking your wool lay it where you want to needle felt it and then with the needle start stabbing/pushing the fibers through the felt. After this carefully pull the felt piece off the foam mat. This is all you need to do there are also handles that can have multiple needles in so that you can needle felt bigger areas.
This YouTube video is a quick demonstration of this technique.
Needle Felting Video
First needle felted piece
This piece I had 15 minutes to do and I was told to do a sunrise as a sample. It was also a way to get comfortable with the technique and experiment with different shapes, blending and sizes of felt. I think my piece went well apart from the fact that some more of the felt fibers needed pushing through the felt to make the image less blurred.
Second needle felted piece
The second needle felted piece was done on top of a wet felted piece the picture above was taken when it was half done. I did then felt a bike on top of this but unfortunately forgot to take a picture. It does look very french and I found that the two techniques work beautifully together if you stick to a theme.
This process is good to use for more solid images and next time I would like the chance to embroider on top of pieces like these. I hope you have enjoyed this post x
Hi everyone! This week I have revisited the technique wet felting. I won't be re-telling you about the process as I have already done this on a older post so there is a link below if you wish to see this.
For my own wet felting I took colours and patterns from my sketchbook, mood boards and visual sheets to relate each piece to my work. Below are some images of the wet felting process:
Before felting wool
Before felting wool 2
Felting while its wet
These pieces were very easy to make and each piece felted well. The pieces were not necessarily A5 size as the pieces shrink due to the fibers fusing together this is a concept I need to consider for future pieces. I liked how the patterns and colours turned out and think that they would work well if I wanted to add a second process like embroidery or needle felting.
Felting pieces once dry
I also experimented with 3D felting making balls and rolls. The balls I made are in the colours of the french flag and the roll was swirled in the colours from a bike wheel.
Felt balls and rolls
These were all my first attempts and they all turned out to be quite good. I managed to get the shapes of the balls to be round and firm and the roll was felted tightly so there were no gaps. I had fun doing these although it tires your arms when rolling or rubbing the felt. It will be great to use within my final pieces.
This post is on another new knitting stitch called knit one purl one rib that I have focused on to find a flatter stitch that I could possibly print onto. I got taught this stitch by my nanan as she loves knitting and I needed a teacher that would show me how to do new stitches.
This particular stitch was quite easy to learn as I had already learnt how to do the knit stitch and purl stitch (refer back to earlier posts to learn these stitches). It was challenging when trying to alternate between the two stitches but I managed to get the hang of it quite quickly once it was explained and demonstrated a few times.
Close up of Knit one purl one rib
First for this stitch you cast on, then knit one stitch and purl one stitch until you are at the end of the row remember what stitch you are on so you don't go wrong. Then remembering the last stitch you were on at the end of the row start with that same stitch and continue alternating between those stitches. This is basically all you do until you come to cast off, when casting of you continue with both stitches and do as normal.
You can also tell what stitch you have just done as there will either be a bobble where you have purled or a knit.
Sample - Knit a line purl a line and knit one purl one rib
I found this stitch very useful as it did not curl up at its edges and it also looked very neat. It was easy and therapeutic to do and I will hopefully print on it for a sample piece.
This blog is about a new stitch I learnt in my knitting lesson called purling. It is a very uncomplicated stitch if you have already learnt how to do the knit stitch (this is also on my blog). I found that it was better to learn the knit stitch first however some may disagree.
Casting on close-up
First before purling I cast on twenty stitches to start my sample.
Cast on twenty stitches
Cast on twenty stitches
To purl start by putting the right needle into the top of the first stitch on the left needle making sure you have a X formed with the right needle at the front. Then wrap your wool around the right needle and pull the right needle through the stitch, taking the wrapped around wool with it and then put it onto the right needle. After this keep going until you want to stop purling.
This is a great stitch to use, when I used it the sides of my knitting didn't curl up and it looks nice as well. It is something different and would be good to put pattern in my knitting.
Below is a video of the purl stitch:
After purling five rows I then went on to do knit a line purl a line for about ten lines and then went back to purl five lines. This was a sample and it looked like a piece you could use for a cuff on a jumper.
Purling
I have not yet put a image on of my sample as I forgot to photograph it but it turned out amazingly well and I am really pleased with it.
On my next blogs I will be doing Knit one, purl one rib and felting so please have a look guys x
This week I have been learning how to knit during my lesson at college. First I had to go through the health and safety for knitting to make sure I would not hurt myself or others. The first thing was to behave responsibly when using the equipment as someone could get injured, the second was to watch what you and others are doing so you don't trip over the wool or get stabbed with the needles.
Below is a image of the equipment I would be using:
Equipment
The equipment I would be using was two needles and a ball of wool. The wool could be any type as it did not matter. The needles I got were a size of 8.0 millimeters the size for this didn't matter either as I wasn't making a specific thing I was just learning the different stitching.
First for knitting I learnt how to Cast on. To start I tied a loop on my finger with the wool at the start of the ball and transferred it onto the left needle. Then I went through the bottom of the loop with the right needle and put that needle behind the left one to form a X. Then taking the wool I wrapped it around the right needle and then pulled the left needle through the original loop with the wool I just wrapped around the left needle with it. Then after pulling it through put it over the right needle and repeat with the top loop until you have the number of stitches you want.
I found this difficult at first but after I practiced this a few times I managed to cast on a row of stitches on my own. It is quite simple once you know what you are doing with the wool and how you need to hold the needles.
Below is a video of this process:
How to cast on beginner
Then I learnt how to do a knit stitch. First insert the left needle knitwize into the first loop on the right needle and put it behind it in a X. Then taking the wool wrap it around the left needle and through the X you have made. After this pull the left needle out of the loop taking the wool that has been wrapped around it and slide it over the left needle to make a loop and leave it there. Then pull the top loop off the right needle and repeat until you come to the end. Once you get to the end swap the needles over and continue the stitch until you are ready to finish.
This step was little complicated for me to get at first and I did end up adding stitches to some rows and taking some off. I ended up adding three stitches to my original twenty stitches but I have learnt from this by learning to count the stitches and wrap the wool around the needles the correct way.
Below is a video of this step:
How to knit stitch
Finally I had to learn how to cast off this I think was very easy to do and I managed to catch on quickly to the technique. First you have to knit two stitches, then put the left needle into the bottom stitch on the right needle and pull it up over the stitch on the top of the right needle. Continue to do this until you have one last stitch. Once on the last stitch cut the line of wool off from the ball leaving a small length and thread it through the final stitch. Then pull it tight and you will be finished with your knitted piece.
The casting off stage was one of the simple parts and it is great once you have finished and get to see your final piece of knitting.
Below is a video of casting off:
Cast off
I thoroughly enjoyed my first lesson of knitting and have learnt a lot from my first attempt. My first sample of knitting doesn't look as good and tight as it could as I didn't have much tension in my wool. It isn't a big sample as I started off knitting slowly and didn't know how to hold the needles properly but it is a good experimental piece.
My knitting piece
During this lesson I also learnt how to do a purl stitch this extended my skills for knitting but that will be going on my next blog so please read it. Until then goodbye x
For my new project Le Tour De France I have had to do some observational drawings of a bike inspired set up. The objects within the set up are old and new bike wheels/frames. I particularly enjoyed drawing this set up as you don't just have to look at the detail or object itself more the shape and composition of the objects. Below are some images of the set up I had to draw:
Frame and wheels
Bottom view of wheel
Close-up of tire
Close-up of side view
Close-up of wheel
This set up drawn from many different angles and with a variety of media such as biro pen, HB pencil, watercolour pencil, pastel and cotton with needle. They were also produced on a range of backgrounds including black paper, brush-o inks and plain paper. I also plan to do some more observational drawings on tissue paper with bleach and emulsion paint. Below are some images of my drawings:
Observational drawings on brush-o and black paper
Pastel and HB pencil on black/white paper
I also had time limits on each observation that were from 5 to 15 minutes each depending on use of media. I switched my seating position to draw the set up at different angles and on some of the drawings I remembered the set up and drew it with my eyes closed to get a new perspective. I feel that this task went really well and I am inspired by the outcomes of my observations. I love how experimental it is and feel I have begun to observe objects in a new way. Hopefully this will show throughout the rest of my project.
