Knots and Tangles

This is something I did not foresee.

Having used knitting machines previously that came complete with a comb I had not encountered some of the problems that I was to come across once I began knitting. 

The fact I only have basic knowledge of knitting machines probably made these problems harder to solve or understand as I just had to keep taking estimated guesses on how to solve them.

To make it easier to understand I shall firstly explain what the comb is.

The comb is basically exactly what it says on the tin. A large comb that is hung across the entire bed of the machine. The teeth are hooked and fit on to the stitches of wool which are across each individual needle.

Weights are then placed equally across the comb which pull the comb and wool downwards away from the machine bed. 

This is to stop the wool popping off the needles which it tends to do when not enough weight is applied to hold it down.

I have six weights which I apply as I would on a comb but the problem with this is that this does not distribute the weight as evenly as a comb and this is where the problems occur. Certain areas of the wool pop off and become entangled in the bed pins which run in front of the machine's needles. This causes massive knots and tangles which need to repetitively and carefully removed with a tool before more knitting to avoid the wool falling off the bed or the wool getting jammed in the hand piece.

I am also beginning to learn that whoever/whatever rolls the wool in to balls obviously is very bored and complacent when they start as the the closer I get to the centre of a ball of wool the more tangled the wool becomes in it self and I need to stop knitting to untangle it.

All of these things I did not take in to account when I started and each take up a lot of precious time that could be spent knitting!

Knitting

Before starting to knit it was important that I set up my machine in a suitable work location.

Ideally I would have set up my machine on a table that was as wide as my machine and a meter or so high so that my knitting had more room to hang. 

Unfortunately I was in no financial state to fulfil these requirements so instead made do with my home coffee table which is the ideal width for my machine and still at a reasonable height that I can knit comfortably whilst sitting on a stool. 

I had a lot of hours of knitting ahead of me so it was important that I took comfort in to consideration.

After setting up my machine I made sure I had enough room to manoeuvre and, more importantly, a TV and stereo close by so that I could keep entertained with films and music while I worked.

I began knitting just over a month ago now and the closer I get to my deadline the more I'm producing per night. 

I have always been one of those people who works better under pressure and knowing this pushes me to work harder the closer my exhibition opening looms.

On average it takes roughly an hour to produce a 2 meter sheet of knit. 

Sometimes a sheet takes longer depending on how much errors occur during the knitting, most of which could be avoided with the help of a comb. 

Although I'm using a machine, knitting is still incredibly tiring work. 

The more I knit the stronger my arm becomes and less painful each night. However due to the amount I am knitting and for long periods of time, blisters have started to appear on my hands and my back is bent over for hours at a time due to the low height of my table. 

Who would have thought knitting could be so hardcore?

Step 3; The Wool.

I wanted to use a single tone, yellow, double knit wool called "sunshine".

I knew I wanted this to be my chosen wool as soon as I started planning my exhibition. 

The reason being that I have always liked the way that this particular colour of wool plays with its own aesthetic and changes in accordance to its surroundings. 

In using this wool I find it the perfect example of colour within and organic form, which is exactly what I was looking for.

Getting a hold of the wool proved a lot easier than I had anticipated thanks to the help of my favourite local wool shop which is located in the Aberdeen Market. I wanted to purchase my wool from a local store rather than a chain so that my money would benefit an independent business and those who work hard within it. 

I ordered my wool and it arrived  3 weeks later on the 8th of January , all 500 balls of it.  

So now I was ready to start knitting and making progress towards my deadline of the 17Th of March, only two months away. 

Step 2; Planning

Having already completed a proposal and been granted an exhibition space and date within the Project Slogan Gallery, I then began to to study the gallery  dimensions in order to determine how much wool would be needed.

It was very important that I looked at the specific gallery measurements as I did not want to be left with less materials than needed.

Not only did I need to figure out the amount of wool that would be required, I was also going to paint the entire space yellow so also had to take paint levels in to consideration. 

This whole process was probably one of the most daunting stages. 

Having never knitted anything to this scale before I only had my imagination and past experiences of knitting larger wool panels to help me through planning. 

The sheer scale of my project had begun to finally sink in.

In the end I decided 500 balls of wool would be enough on the basis that 4 balls of wool created a sheet that was roughly 2 metres in length, almost 4 when stretched. This would then give me 125 panels and approximately 500 metres of wool. 

Step 1; The Knitting Machine

The first step in my project was to purchase my very own knitting machine, having graduated I could no longer rely on the art schools lovely supply.

I decided to purchase a Brother KH230 knitting machine. 

This was for a few reasons;

a) This particular model is for use of chunky or thicker wool which is exactly what I would be          using.

b) I had used this model before and knew that it produced high end results.

and 

c) Although obsolete this model is usually easy to find online, although at a price!

So I tracked one down on ebay and paid probably double what it was originally worth but it turned up in good working order minus one bent needle which was easily replaced.

The only slight snag was that my knitting machine did not come complete with a comb, which at the time I overlooked as a minor problem. However the lack of the comb proved to be more important than I first thought and made the whole process of knitting a lot more difficult than necessary. 

Due to the fact that the majority of manual knitting machines are obsolete spares are sometimes very hard to come buy. I could not trace a replacement comb to my knitting machine specifications so have to persevere without but this could of been easily avoided had I made sure this part came complete with my machine in the first place. 

In The Beginning

My fascination with wool began in 3rd year of art school. I had just learned to knit hats and after exhausting this new found talent I found myself becoming obsessed with wool as a medium. I began introducing wool as an element to my paintings and found as a medium it was not only aesthetically very pleasing but it also collaborated surprisingly well with my more traditional painting skills. 

The more I used wool the more I wanted to push it's limitations as a medium. 

I learned how use a manual knitting machine which produced much larger quantities of wool in a much less time consuming manner than that of hand knitting. This in turn meant that I could use wool in a much larger scale which opened up even more possibilities in utilising it within contemporary painting. 

After using it successfully confined within the parameters of my canvases I naturally progressed in to a larger scale and this is when I decided I wanted to saturate an entire space with wool, covering as much space as possible.

After gratefully receiving a grant towards my project from GAVAA I secured an exhibition space, purchased my very own Brother KH230 knitting machine and ordered  500 balls of wool and began production. Knowing my own artistic temperament I set myself the deadline of two months to knit, prepare and exhibit my installation "Dropstitched".