Final Project

Why did a choose knitting? Knitting was something that I had always wanted to try but always felt that it was too difficult to do and that it was too “girly” for a guy to do. Yes, knitting is hard to do because you must learn hand movements, how to hold your needles, the pattern and the knit stitch, and how much tension to put on the yarn, as your knitting it. It’s funny that I thought of knitting a female oriented craft when I have always been interested in fashion; which is a female dominated industry.

In Makers, I was very much interested in the textile and jewelry and metalsmithing sections of the book. I became very much inspired by the artist in chapter 8. I especially was inspired by Sheila Hicks. I want to try my hand at creating small scale textile art. I am limited by the fact that I live in Korea and don’t know if I will be staying here past this year.

Back to the question. I choose knitting because it is something that is very portable and I don’t need any specialized tools or equipment. Everything that I have can be packed into a suitcase when I moved. Also, I would be creating things that are usable and I could make for myself or the people in my life. Another reason is that I could find all my tools or materials in my city or order them from online.

While living in Beijing my friend Mike approached me about wanting to learn to knit also. So, we went to YouTube and started looking at knitting tutorials. After learning what tools, we would need and such as which size needles and yarn are good for beginners; we had his boyfriend order us yarn and I found the needles that we would need. This almost didn’t get done while in Beijing because of Chinese New Year, everything was back logged from the delivery companies being shut down that entire week and then they sent the yarn to wrong address.  We eventually got the yarn a week before we were both supposed to leave Beijing.

Once everything was in order we went to a café and started practicing how to cast on and then working on the knit stitch and how to hold and control the yarn. YouTube is great but it doesn’t answer all your questions, but our friend Jacques’ boyfriend at the time had been taught by his grandmother when he was younger how to knit and he was able to show us how to do it. After about 8 hours of practice that day I was finally able to get a few rows started and was getting a feel for the movements and how much tension I needed to use while holding the yarn.

After moving I worked on my starter piece intermittently over the next few weeks because I moved to Korea, had to get use to a new job, exploring my new city, and working on other grad school classes. I was finally able to finish my starter piece which is half a scarf. I may use it to practice embroidering on yarn as Future suggested. Earlier this week I started working on another scarf which I completed this week.

Things I have learned while doing this.

1.     People will stare at a guy knitting.

2.     Knitting is a great meditative practice. I can let my mind wander or go blank and focus on the movements of my hand, or I can use the time to plan and think.

3.     I found an art that I want to keep exploring and learning new patterns and techniques.

4.     I feel proud to have created something beautiful with my own hands.

I am currently working on another scarf, this time with a smaller yarn. After starting on the smaller yarn, I know that I like the chunkier yarn and want to work with that primarily. I also want to work with thread and other textile materials in the future. I also want to try my hand at knitting a blanket and knitting sweaters and hats and other items with yarn. I plan and doing more scarves and giving them to family and friends.