I have had much more success with my MA work since I separated my craft ‘inclinations’ to do ‘outside’ my practice.

I still love knitting and as I have to have something to do with my hands during ‘downtime’ to relax, it works brilliantly. I usually keep to knitting things that don’t require too much ‘looking at’ so I can knit whilst watching TV, travelling etc. However, my latest indulgence (which has turned into a ‘present’ project) is something that really can inform, and is having an impact on, my practice.

I am a big fan of Knitty.com which is an online community magazine for knitters – where people can contribute patterns for publication. One such pattern in this issue is the Princess Franklin Plaid Collar. It is one of those projects that is ‘reasonably’ quick to do (well the knitting part is) and can use up ‘stash’ wool. The great thing with this is that I get to play around with colours. I can choose how they sit alongside one another and how they interact. Another thing I have really liked using is variegated or hand-dyed yarns – as there is a ‘chance’ element to the interaction of the colours and is often where the most interesting sections are.

I have frequently taken photos of these for the day’s entry in my colour diary – so I thought it would be useful to post these online. This not only adds the colours to the diary (from the interactions I notice most) but also strengthens my subliminal skills at grouping colours – which should be useful for positioning groups of abstracts. It is possible that I might make some plain pieces – possibly without the plaid (and the reverse is actually more interesting than the front) to include in the show.

Enjoy finding the interactions that push your buttons.

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