October 16, 2023 · Made by Shruti
Blooming Daire
inspired by Rain Drop
Hello there, the weather is getting colder as it is autumn, and it's time to use wool, but I will miss experimenting with cotton and linen yarn. This project is a little bit different; instead of going blindly, I decided to plan a little bit ahead, like making a gauge swatch and noting down the important measurements, and based on those, creating a knitwear piece. When I went to Karuizawa, it was raining, and while I was recording, I could hear the sound of rain falling on the roof, and the drops falling on the leaves, bouncing, and finally landing on the ground.
I used a timer to note how many different sounds I heard and recorded them it might be difficult to notice, but I collected six different high and low sounds. I am thinking of incorporating them into a striped pattern with a basic silhouette. I am working on the cognitive math in knitting, so I want to keep it simple.
The rough idea goes like this: the green stripes will vary, and the purple stripes will remain the same in width.
Sound One - 3.88 - Purple - 08. (I decided to increase the number.)
Sound Two - 1.35 - Green - 2.
Sound Three - 2.38 - Purple - 02.
Sound Four - 4.13 - Green - 4.
Sound Five - 7.78 - Purple - 08.
Sound Six - 2.71 - Green - 3.
Adding the purple sets (8+8+2 = 18), and for green, its 2, 4, and 3 simultaneously.
It went smoothly, and I adored the colour combinations, but as I got closer to finishing, I wasn't satisfied. Maybe the green was too strong, and I somehow needed to change the order to make it look good. So, I tried a different swatch, but none gave me the signal to proceed ahead, and I dropped it. I decided to take a break and come back. I was stuck on the idea of having stripes to represent different timing sets, but it didn't work well, either in terms of the material or the fact that I was restricting myself. What I wanted was how math weaves together with the knitting process, not how to force an understanding of the logic behind the arithmetic in designing patterns. When you are excessively fixated and stuck on an idea, rather than exploring it, it becomes annoying, and you start to lose touch with the knowledge you already have. Instead of gaining new information, you get overpowered by existing ones.
After getting some rest, I sat in a pile of yarn, going with my instincts rather than setting a specific goal, trying out a bunch of colour combinations with nothing particularly in mind until everything came together naturally. The time sets were still in the back of my head and eventually formed a pattern of three stitch groups, one purple and two green. The whole idea quickly came together and formed into a vest, and I was happy.
As I transitioned from circular knitting to flat knitting, my brain was in the process of understanding the decrease in arm and neck visually. Based on my other knitwear project, I calculated the decreases and proceeded with the front. When I reached the back, I had already memorised the decrease based on the front side. The only difference was that the back side needed a deeper curve so the garment wouldn't float and would stay flat. I do have some mistakes, but it's all about learning. You can't force things; they will signal you, and you just need to seize the opportunity.
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Shruti