Knitting Through Winter | Part II
Some of us have been knitting all winter. It’s a calming and quiet cure for the blender that can swirl around us.
Artist and collaborator Amelie Mancini is one of those people. In early January, we shared with you the start of her journey with our Patchwork Blanket pattern. Working through color choices and watching the overall layout of the blanket evolve were top of mind.
She’s since completed her project with a dreamy and thoughtful interpretation of the Patchwork Blanket. She takes us through some pictures and her thoughts on this project.
Were there surprises in how the various skein colors knit up?
This project was such a fun way to try out different color combinations and patterns, it gave me lots of ideas for other projects and even for my own painting practice. I love to experiment with colors and see what kind of emotions they can create: calm, peace, energy, music! I really enjoyed knitting with the Confettti 16 yarn, I loved how the little specks of colors arranged themselves over the cream base. Knitting with Space Dye is also always fun, so interesting to see how the two colors work together to create a pattern. Knitting with beautiful hand dyed yarns is such a joy, and the colors all worked really well together. My favorite color combination was Chestnut, Maritime Blue and Confetti 16 with a pop of Celadon. Confetti 16 pretty much goes with everything!
How much time did you spend arranging, rearranging these squares before you reached your final layout?
A lot of my process is just staring at my work… whether I’m painting, knitting, drawing, or even rearranging the furniture in my house. I’m a highly visual person and so I do spend a lot of time just intently looking at things without moving and in complete silence! For this project, to help figure out how to position the squares I drew a life-sized grid on a piece of canvas and I pinned it to my wall. Then I filled the grid with the squares trying to distribute the colors and patterns more or less evenly. I followed my intuition and it didn’t take too long. I think after knitting all these squares I knew instinctively where they should go.
Most frustrating thing that happened during the process? Most magical?
I’m actually kind of sad it’s over! It was really fun and addictive, I might just keep going and make it bigger… or make a smaller version to wear as a scarf? It was magical to see how limitless the possibilities were. I was a little apprehensive about all the seaming but it was actually quite meditative. The hardest part was when I ran out of yarn and had to wait for more yarn to arrive! Haha.
Where will this blanket live in your home?
My kids thought I was crazy at first when I made the first square and told them it would become a blanket. Then they saw the pile of squares get bigger and bigger and eventually get sewn into a really big square and they thought it was the coolest thing. My daughter has claimed the blanket for her bed so that’s where it will go, although I was hoping to bring it to my studio because it is so cold in there! Clearly I need to make another one :)
Learn more about Amelie and her work here.
