Tuesday, August 27, 2013

Silver Queen Handkerchief

August has gotten away from me. With summer camp ending and school starting for the kids, I have muddled a few schedules and haven’t had time to knit like I have wanted to.

But, I took some time off work and was able to finish the Silver Queen Handkerchief. It was more time consuming than I thought because it is so small and delicate. But it turned out beautiful. Here are some pictures before I apply the silver leaf.




I will post pictures soon with the silver leaf applied. But in the meantime I still made a pattern for the handkerchief itself, because the handkerchief could be usable if you just didn’t put the silver on it. After all, part of my art is patternmaking as well. So, the pattern is on my pattern page for free!

Next up, the other work of art I am making to enter into the exhibition (hint: knitted paper!)





Friday, August 9, 2013

Susanna Egera Bransford Emery Holmes Delitch Engalitcheff

A few months ago, I went back to the Park City Museum to visit a colleague and was able to spend more time looking around. The Park City Museum has some great information on the local Silver Boom in Park City, East of Salt Lake City. This mining town has a rich history of booms and busts, but one of the most interesting stories is Utah’s Silver Queen, Susanna Egera Bransford Emery Holmes Delitch Engalitcheff. She was a woman lucky enough to strike it rich after investing in the Silver King mine in Park City in the late 1800s. Over the years she married five times (including a Russian prince!), lived a lavish life and spent almost all of her vast fortune during her lifetime.  

I was captivated by her story when I learned about it and I wanted to pay homage to her somehow. The idea of silver shaping her life got me thinking about knitting with silver. Not just silver wire but actual silver leaf on top of knitting. In my last post I showed a picture of my experiment on using silver leaf over knitting. I think it has a beautiful sheen but I am still working on the gluing method.

I am toying with the idea of making a traditional Victorian handkerchief out of lace weight that has some silver overlay. This work will then be a non-functional work of art as the silver would make the handkerchief unusable. Kind of like a metaphor for the decadent, exotic, and wild life of Susanna.

Tuesday, August 6, 2013

Silver Queen


Here is a little sneak peak at what I have coming up next. I am going to submit some more knitted artwork to the Utah Division of Arts and Museums Statewide Annual show this year and am in the midst of creativity.

This swatch will become something soon inspired by Utah’s own Silver Queen, Susanna Egera Bransford Emery Holmes Delitch Engalitcheff. What a great story she has!

(yep that is real silver on the knitting!)

Saturday, August 3, 2013

NaCl Ring: A Conceptual Design


I had so much fun making this pattern. It is a conceptual design that gives a blueprint for making a lacy ring using randomly generated eyelets. The gauge, yarn weight, needle size, and finished measurements are up to you. This ring is inspired by salt (NaCl or Sodium Chloride) and the way crystals are formed randomly but still within a tight structure.



To figure out how many stitches to cast on, knit a small swatch in stockinette stitch using your preferred yarn and needles. Note the gauge then measure your ring size. Use your gauge to calculate how many stitches to cast on to fit your ring size. In the examples I have pictured, 20 stitches were cast on using lace weight with size 0 needle to make size 6 ring.

I made one out of paper, silk and steel, recycled silk and cotton crochet thread. My favorite is the silk and steel but the paper one is intriguing too. This is a free pattern (see my pattern page) and if anyone makes one I would love to see pictures.






Thursday, August 1, 2013

NaCl

So I have been wanting to make another piece of jewelry since I made the Halite Choker and the Salt Bracelet. They were fun to think about and knit up.


As I was contemplating what to do, I thought about this concept of salt with the other two pieces and became interested in how the salt crystals grow. Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or salt crystals are very rigid and structured but each salt crystal is shaped different as the crytals compound on one another.

Salt crystal from the Great Salt Lake.

The idea of a randomly generated crystalline structure could be envisioned in a knitted design. The design would have to be conceptual, in that I would have to create a blueprint to follow but that each piece would ultimately end up slightly different. Just like salt crystals.

I began fiddling around with randomly generated lace designs using a six-sided dice to determine when to create knit 2 togethers and yarn overs.




I think I am onto something. I will refine some of the details and write up a conceptual design to see where it goes.