Update!

The reason I've been absent from blogger for two months is because I've been busy in college.  Check out the blog (I created) for the upcoming exhibition from the 3rd Year IADT, Dun Laoghaire Students!   http://iadtexhibition2009.blogspot.com 

I'll have more posts for my own blog soon! 

January Happenings

For the last two weeks, a new obsession has taken hold of me. I'm in love with the workings of Stephenie Meyer.  The Twilight books are so good, I read the first two very fast and am half way through the third.  I haven't been this excited about books since the Eragon books, and before that the Harry Potter series. 

I'm working on a new project for college, photos of my work will be up as soon as I start working! The project is still in the research/planning stage, but this week it has to move out of that stage pretty quick as next monday i have to hand

 up a schedule detailing the dates of completion for various components of the project. 

On Wednesday, I finally completed Margie's Christmas present. I'll give it to her next weekend as I have to wait for the ink to dry.  Here's the rest of the photos of the work!

This is the base colour: 

The roll up of inks I mixed myself:

The woodblock print with each colour:

Masking taped woodblock, so that I could get the squares for the Gingham pattern:

Holiday Season and Knitting Projects

This Christmas, the cats were delighted with their presents that Santa left in their special cat stockings. Here's White Fella excited about his ball.  He also spent a lot of time under the Christmas Tree, he thought Santa had left the tree for him too!

I'm always surprised how much I like mince pies.  This year, I tried a new recipe from Rachel Allen.  It worked quite well and the pies were delicious. Gone in 5 mins! 

I finally finished the pair of Jo-Jo heel socks. The whole process was enjoyable! Here you can see the Jo-jo heel.  This was a bit tricky but I found some help on TessKnits.com

This is the completed first sock, it was great watching the pattern appear while knitting!

The completed socks modelled by Margie.  I had to cut a length of yarn so that the pattern would match up on both socks.

...more to come...

Christmas Fair

Yay! The student Union in college organised a Christmas Fair.  I signed up for a table and spread out some of my knitting. 

 

I also sold some little stars and hearts (Christmas decorations). I kept them in a willow basket, handmade by my Mam, Margie. 

Margie took photos of me posing in the hat and gloves so that people could see what they looked like on.

It was a great success, everyone especially loved the little baby slippers! I must dig out the pattern again out of one of the knitting books and knit some more. Thanks to Margie for sewing on the buttons and for all her help last night.

Home for a few days

I've been busy in the last two weeks.  Before my presentation last Monday, Me and dad went over to Henley to join Margie and Mel.  We had an early Christmas celebration because Mel and Chris are going to be in America for Christmas.  It was a great weekend.  Because I don't have money this year for presents, I worked in the print room in college to create a woodblock print for Mel and Chris.  This is the finished result (1/3 "Bailey & Bindi" 2008). I'll add a pic of Mel's edition soon.  The cats are Bailey and Bindi.  The print contains 10 different colours and is printed from one block of MDF 6mm that I had to cut into with woodcut scribes.  10 colours means 10 steps so it was a lot of work, but enjoyable and well worth it.  

For Margie's christmas present, I'm still working.  It's going to be three hearts with a gingham pattern.  The squares are a nightmare to cut out but once I start printing, I'll have some fun!  

Because it's very time consuming I don't expect to finish this piece until after Christmas.  So, I've already shown it to Margie.  A good thing about making prints as Christmas presents is that it means I can document the steps and results in my notebooks.  I'm delighted to say that I got my result for my research and presentation and the combined result is a B+.  I'm waiting for my essay grade on Friday to see what I'll get for Christmas!

Margie went to Vienna and brought me back lovely wool, Lana Grossa Primo and beautiful needles.  The pattern is created by the wool as you knit.  I'm knitting a pair of socks, following a Jo-jo heel sock pattern I found on the Lana Grossa website. 

Mind Games

For my research project in college, I've been working with various mediums, including printmaking and knitting.  Here's the three images I'll be using for my presentation next Monday. This first image is of "Ode a La Biévre" by Louise Bourgeois. While some of her work disturbs me, I really love the cloth books she has produced. This one is especially interesting, with the combination of text and imagery, as well as each image being so very different from the others. 

The next image is one of my desk. I was finding it hard to pinpoint 3 images that sum up my research project. So, I talked to my tutor and she suggested taking a photograph of my desk. So this is my studio space in college, which I use a lot! My work for this project can be seen on the wall - there's a knitted 'S', which exemplifies my explorations in knitting patterns and there's a woodblock print of a sewing thread spool and a needle, entitled "Before the Stitch". 

 

The last image is the one I'm least happy with, because it demonstrates a work in progress.  One of the interests I identified in my project was the mind.  Duane's brother, Leigh, had his brain scanned recently and got to keep the x-rays, so I converted them into a screenprint, with varied success. I hope to have more prints completed soon.  This print was featured in the exhibition "Support" for the IADT open day.  

Knitting Update

Here's some of the items I've knit over the years.

This is the first ever Teddy I knit, he's a rucksack teddy and I brought him everywhere with me. I was about 8 years old. 

A Debbie Bliss teddy. The first one I knit from this pattern, I've since knit many of these teddies. The most recent being a Rambo one and one for Duane, now named Alfie. 

In fourth year of Secondary School, I knitted this teddy as part of a school project.  The pattern was on a torn out page from a magazine. I think he looks adorable in his stripped pyjamas.

My first attempt with double pointed needles resulted in a pair of leg warmers. My second attempt was a pair of cozy socks, modelled here by Margie! 

I enjoy knitting baby clothes and accessories because they are quick to knit.

In the Knitted Accessories book, I came across a cute Berry Beret and tried my hand at it. I was very happy and knitted another in blue for Margie. 

While knitting, I watched The Sound of Music on tv. You can see the ballroom scene behind me in one of the photos.