CrumpArt

Part of my project this semester involves spinning yarn and knitting it into lace circles based on Elizabeth Zimmermann’s pi shawl pattern. To put it in the vaguest terms possible, it’s a scienc-y, mathematical meditation-y mandala thing — a reflection on creation and the clash of scepticism and belief. I’ll be printing on each piece of knitting repeatedly to build up colour, and will also try printing with them on my paper works. Next semester they’ll be ripped out and made into something new, playing into my destruction/creation theme.

I started with a bag of wool that I already had, but it hadn’t been carded and was just too lumpy and uneven for what I wanted. I could have hand-carded it, but the thought of processing 500g of fibre that way made me want to cry real tears. Instead, I paid a visit to the Yarn Barn in Coburg to see what they had, and came out with 700g of processed superwash merino that had already been pre-drafted and wound onto a cone. Freaking score!

It still took me a few skeins to get my tension right for the project I have in mind next semester, but I’m still using the first efforts this time around, and will use them for a different piece later.

Here’s what the singles needed to look like…

And here they are plied.

And posing with Neil Gaiman’s signature in my sketchbook (yep, definitely fangirl.)

I’m really quite disgustingly proud of my spinning job. It took at least two full days to spin the singles, and another half day of plying just for two skeins. The knitting feels like flying in comparison.