PDP tutorial_ week three

This week I have moved into my specialism- knit. I had a positive PDP tutorial at the beginning of the week where we discussed the project and what I need to be working on.
I had a lot of ideas to bring to the tutorial but found it difficult to sum up what my concept is, so I have reviewed my research and tried to pin point what its all about.
I would describe my project as_ inspired by organisms within nature that form their own habitats; with a focus on developing fabrics or garments that are flexible, expandable and sensitive. I have found it helpful to gather some key images on pinterest to visualise my ideas and act as a reference for myself throughout the unit.

http://uk.pinterest.com/bphippswardle/mobile-habitats/

The materials I use are a key component in this project, as I am looking at texture and surface a lot. I want to really push what I can use and knit with, e.g: leather, silk, paper yarns, copper wire and potentially explore coating and dying my own yarns.

With my tutor, Laura we discussed my use of colour and how the fibre/yarn choice affects this. I have continued making yarn wraps and colour studies, mixing tones and brights to create an exciting palette.

I have began to knit small samples on the domestic knitting machines, mostly experimenting with yarn and colour combinations.

( viscose/ wool)

I wanted to see the effect of using very different yarn types and used the technique of 'hooking up' to add some texture.

Here I was exploring colour proportion and E-wrapped in some leather strips, which have made intriguing, embellishment like sections.

This is a sample of hand knitted copper wire layered over some machine knitting, the contrast between the soft yarn and hard, clean wire is really nice; I will defiantly think about different ways of incorporating metallics in my work.