IKEA

Going to IKEA is almost like going on a day long vacation.

This was lunch. The selection of non offensive American classics, Swedish dishes, and pretty pastries is a really good way of explaining what is good about IKEA. On top of a sturdy foundation of organization, coordination, and presentation, they have options. There are certain things that could be considered IKEA classics, Poang bent ply chairs, mod fabrics, and those famous meatballs. If you are into the brand, this is what you want. Then there is furniture which fits the average home. It is less minimal with more upholstery foam, floral prints, and moldings. These are like ordering a mac and cheese combo in the cafeteria. Each section also has a sprinkling of more expensive items with slightly better quality or craftsmanship. You can splurge on cow skin rugs and leather sofas if you really want. These are like those indulgent desserts but for your home.

Most people can find something they like because of these basic themes.

The IKEA in New Haven is particularly pleasant from a design perspective because the dining room looks out to the historically significant Pirelli Tire building.

Designed in 1968 by Marcel Breuer, this vacant building was supposed to be demolished to make room for the IKEA. Though the majority of the structure was torn down, the most interesting section was left standing. The masterful use of texture in the concrete cannot be seen in this picture, but the building is actually worth visiting to get the details.

Though I wasn't looking for furniture on this trip, I was looking at it. I made special note of the way textured accessories were used to add personality and interest to the constructed interiors.

 These were some of the reference pictures that I snapped to use as texture inspiration.

I also found a new friend to take home with me in the children's department.

This is my new vegetable friend. He is a carrot with shorts.

I'm pretty analytical about how I choose stuffed toys, and our friendship is a result of an outstanding hug test. I actually tried explaining to some strangers that as part of my college education, I learned a lot about what makes a good stuffed toy. Each toy can be critiqued on form, character, and educational value. I think they thought that I was either making things up or mentally unsound. Anyway, this carrot in shorts came home with me. I like him a lot.

If you ever need a good vacation spot, check out IKEA.

you.knit.lamps

Eight months ago, I posted a few pictures of a lamp that I made out of felt. There was a pretty big response from people who wanted to make lamps too, but there were also a lot of questions about fires and electrical wiring.

It took a bit of work, but with motivation from a really ugly bedside lampshade, help from the ravelry free testers group, and photography and some proofreading from my mother, there is now a way for others to knit similar lumpy lampshades.

All of the danger and live wires have been excised and replaced with safety and standardization. It may sound much less exciting, but it allows me to publish a pattern that fits the needs of all sorts of people with all sizes of lamp without an overbearing fear of fires and lawsuits.

The  pattern is for a textured felt lamp shade in multiple sizes and matching pillows in two sizes, the pillows do not light up.The lamp shade can be sewn over a preexisting shade or a handmade frame. DIY instructions for a metal lamp shade frame are included in the pattern as well as a lesson in lamp anatomy and safety.

The pillows are 10" x 16" and 16" x 16".
The shade fits a 6"-18" diameter drum shade with a height of 11". The height is adjustable.
Patons Classic Wool in color Aran is shown in all pictures.

Some of the skills needed for this pattern are non knitting related. It just wouldn't be fair to keep them secret, so I'm posting them here so that everyone can decide whether they want to put in the extra effort to make the lampshade themselves. The following images show the skills and materials needed to make a lampshade from scratch. These images are also included in the pattern PDF.

If you aren't into this sort of crafting , keep in mind that using a store bought lamp shade and making a pillow do not require any of these extra steps.

You've now seen everything but the actual knitting instructions so there are no unwanted surprises (I'm very OK with people using these lampshade frame instructions to come up with their own projects as long as I get credit for creating the files).  It's a fun project for the adventurous crafter and is very rewarding. You have to actually feel the texture to know how rewarding it really is.

The pillow is perfect for petting.

You can find the pattern on ravelry for $8.00 or get it right here.


If you are not a knitter but are interested in this product: I am able to produce a limited number of pillows and lampshades depending on my schedule. Contact me with your needs for pricing info.

Leap Year Tote Bag

It's a good thing that there's an extra day in February because I just finished my final red and white wool project today. It's a tote bag with a textured gradient of red 3D dots.

I'm not a big fan of a lot of the bags on the market, they're all very similar and traditional. There are also a lot of great, fresh looking styles, but they demand a higher price. When you have the skills to do it yourself, you should. The result will always represent you better than a store bought product.

It is lined with blue twill fabric to keep the felt exterior from stretching and deforming with use. When I get a job, I'll be using this to replace my current work bag, so it has to be sturdy enough to hold 20 lbs of papers and computer. The straps are just cotton webbing, the same as on a factory made bag

The hardest part was figuring out how to do colorwork with a texture of shortrows. I treated each red lump ad if it was just a normal fairisle color shift. The strands were carried in back as I worked my way across the row. You can see that the red yarn does not continue across the row because, if it were, the dots would be connected with a thin line.

These two pictures to the left show the knit part of the project before and after felting.  I left blank spots in the textured areas so that there was a place for the straps. As usual, most of the shrinkage was vertical. I made a ridge along the bottom of the bag to add shape to the squared off bottom panel. This attempt to shape the felt did not really work and the ridge kind of blended into the felted fabric. Next time, I would add more purl rows.

Currently there is no written pattern available. It's very similar to some other lumpy patterns I'm working on, so it wouldn't be hard to write out, but I'm not sure if it really appeals to many people . If there's a response (via comments) I would consider doing the work of writing it up for the ravelry pattern store.

Beyond Dead

The term for ironing the texture, stretch, and loft out of acrylic fiber is killing. Killed acrylic had good drape and feels smooth and almost silky. A few months ago, I started to experiment with the idea of heat setting acrylic swatches into more interesting textures than their usual flat form.

This pink swatch is in a fold pattern called a Miura-Ori. It was ironed into folds in the compact position on top. when you open it up, the crease pattern is visible. Because of the shininess of the yarn after ironing, the folds really shine in the sunlight.

This second piece in aquamarine yarn has an unstructured texture. It was crumpled and baked to get this unusual, almost organic topography. It almost looks like the mountains on a map. I hit one side with green Montana Gold  spray paint to create a different effect on the back. The shine of the yarn is really nice with this texture, and the crumpled effect creates an elasticity in the fabric.

The goal of these swatches was to take a fiber which is not generally considered desirable and to transform it into something where the artificiality and cheapness become positive attributes. These two effects can only be achieved with a synthetic fiber  and are quite beautiful. I'm thinking up some patterns that might use this sort of textile, so if you like the look and have some ideas, please comment.

These techniques are going to be the topic of a tutorial which shows how to heat your acrylic safely and with style. Hope you all liked the examples.

Feelological Bacterial Growth

 For readers who are not familiar with the ongoing project, Feelology started as my senior thesis project. The goal was to create a set of products which keep us grounded in physical space even when we are preoccupied with our mobile distraction devices. As life moves further from reality and becomes inseparable from the internet and the computer, we cannot forget to satisfy our senses. Life is about more than touching a screen, it is about feeling and being aware of your environment.

Since May, I have been refining the manufacturing process behind the feelology felt rug. The first version was a rectangular shape made only with a felting needle and wool. This new set involves a bit of adhesive, but saves me strained arm muscles and pricked fingers, not to mention about 20 hours of work.

 I made these new floor mats round because the shape works better with the bubble pattern. When choosing a layout, I wanted it to look natural and somewhat random, not arranged. I looked at the growth patterns of bacterial cultures in petri dishes, they tend to grow in clusters and in many cases have very beautiful patterns.

You can see the similarities.

In order to make sure that I can definitely use colors other than white, I made one round with green felt. The color is really close to moss, which makes walking on it a lot like walking barefoot in my backyard. Moss is a very enjoyable texture memory for me.

 So check them both out on etsy, and remember that I am now able to fill custom orders in various colors and sizes up to 5'x8'.

i.knit.lamps

This project was a lot of fun and discovery.

The idea came from some of my earlier knitting experiments and one very lumpy hat. With the invention of less flammable light sources (like LEDs) lamps can wear sweaters without burning up. So I decided to find out what a topographic textile looks like in the context of lighting.

Textured felt can be a very interesting material to shine light through. Thickness is pretty consistent, so translucency is actually determined by proximity to the light source. The peaks are dark, while the valleys show more radiant light.

The result is a luminescent pineapple - a very squishy and fuzzy luminescent pineapple.

carpet planning...

More carpets are in the works, made using a more precise and less dangerous process (I got tired of felting needle wounds). They are also more water resistant and durable.

If anyone is interested in seeing samples, send me a note.

I took a few pictures of a drawing that I made using a tack. It is a side view of a pelvis.

 The light shines through the drawing to make a negative.

I call it TACKtile illustration.

ID view 2011

feelology

These are the final images of the products made for my feelology project. The project started with the intent to introduce textures to the backs of electronic devices in order to make them more tactile. While sketching in silicone, I realized that though it is interesting to make a device feel good in the hand, it is not going to change how people interact with their electronics. Tactile surfaces have more impact when they are not directly competing with the functional screen side of the device.

I branched out into other materials, incorporating my love of textiles and craft into my experimentation in feelology. The result is a group of three products (plus a bunch of silicone sketches) which add an element of tactility to an environment.

The quilt is a new interpretation of the classic trapunto technique. The pattern of stuffed areas is unevenly distributed and is therefore more interesting to feel in some areas than others. By emphasizing the texture of an object that is already used as a comfort object, the user may become more aware of the physical object which they are interacting with, or maybe not.

The carpet, made entirely out of wool, has a similar concept to the quilt. The lumps of varying size are placed unevenly so the texture is more noticeable. In the process of sketching, I found that a uniform texture is the tactile equivalent of white noise: You can feel it, but the sensation is constant that after a while you no longer notice it. The bumps kind of massage the bottoms of your feet. They feel pretty good.

The third product in the series is kind of the odd duck of the group. This is the hoodie that I posted about earlier. It has an inset pocket with a texture inside. The idea is based on the observation that people reach into their pockets and jingle their change or their keys when they are nervous or bored. The hoodie took on an unusual form because I wanted to make it look cozy and inviting. I also have an affinity for strangely shaped garments. The adult size has a beard of texture, the kid's (not shown) only got texture in the pockets. There is a bit more work to be done on this garment, but for the purpose of school, all of the ideas are there. More versions can be expected.

So, one week from now there will be a show/critique at Pratt Institute. I think it might be open to visitors, so drop by room 44a in Pratt studios at 1:30, Wednesday, May 4th if you want to see my work and some really cool stuff from my classmates. I may have some more to show.

bearded head

project progress