Abbey Price- Drawing From Photographs Of Knit Swatches From The Knit Pattern Books

As my focus and interest within the group project is based on the idea of linking drawing and print to knit In the visit to Lee Mills this week whilst helping out sorting through some knit patterns I took photographs of some of the knit structures I thought I could develop drawings from. These are the images of the knits I thought would be suitable to draw from. :

My next task is to develop a range of drawings from these images which I want to be a part of my section of the group article. I also think it will be interesting to link the drawing studies from the knits in to my own practice to show and promote how the Lee Mills archive can inspire and interest people within the practice of art and design.

-By Abbey Price

Abbey Price- Lee Mills Archive Visit: 25th March- Learning To Archive Using The Database

During this visit to the archive at Lee Mills I wanted to understand the process in which they archive the pieces on a digital database. I wanted to experience this side of archiving for the end article as I thought it would be important to include in our group experience of archiving and understanding of the importance of archiving.

Paper cards in date order that correspond to the digital database

The Data base is done in two parts firstly the items are catalogued on separate paper cards organised by number into years starting from 1991 to the present time. The cards then correspond to the digital excel database which has been typed in to the system. The details and information that is recorded on each item includes; date of when the item was made, the knit/crochet structure, condition, colour, yarn, date donated/bought and the donor. The system is a very effective system and it has taken the volunteers a long time to record the information into this database and keep it correct.

Assisting With Checking The Information In The Database:

Within my experience with helping Angharad spot check the archives in the database I was given the task of finding the correct paper visions of the pieces and cross checking them with the digital database. This task allowed me to experience archiving first hand and allowed me to share with the group the process that Lee Mills use. Together as a group we’ve decided to include this as part of our overall experience of archiving at Lee Mills within our final article. We thought this would be a good section to have in the article as it’s one of the most important tasks the volunteers have to keep a solid copy and up to date record of the collection.

Improving The Digital Database:

Another important issue we discussed today as part of looking at the digital database was how they wanted to develop more of an online imagery based catalogue of the collection. This was brought up after discussing the problems of just having written descriptions of the items as you can’t always identify the archives just from reading the description. Another important point Angharad made was that when museums or other guild members wanted to look or borrow a particular item or collection within the archive it was difficult to locate so they thought having an imagery based catalogue this would improve this problem.

 - Overall we felt as a group today we gathered and narrowed our ideas down and we felt that included our experience and knowledge of the digital database will be a topic we will include in our final article.

Next week we have decided we need to have a team meeting to discuss how we will format the article and bring our own individual experiences of the archive together.

-Abbey Price

Minature knitts

Today at Lee Mill I have been learning about how the artefacts are documented and archived and how the data base works. The guild have a few ways of documenting the artefacts; one way is filing cards in order of date, each card includes the type of item e.g. sweater or socks, the item number, the type of knit or crochet, the colour and a description of the item, where or who the item was acquired from and where appropriate the price it was bought for or the donors name and also the box number it is stored in. This information is also documented on a data base and today I was helping to check the cards and the data base matched. Another documentation method the guild is intending to set up is a system where every item in each box is photographed as a collection so everything can be found quickly and easily. The item number is made up of the date it was acquired, the donor number (assigned by who it was acquired from) and a number for each item that was acquired from the same place e.g. 1993/0073/0001 or 1993/0073/0002

Another thing I did today was look for any miniature items I could find. I am looking for miniature items because I am attempting to make links to other project I am involved in that is all about art of the miniature (no bigger than 20x20). I thought it would be interesting to see what tiny treasures the guild might have to inspire my miniature project but also because my focus on the Lee Mills project so far has been about miscellaneous objects so I thought it would be appropriate for that too. 

So the mini treasures I have found today are as follows, I added a twenty pence piece to give an idea of scale.

Purses and Pence Jugs

 I am in love with this tiny purse it is adorable and elegant and I love the design with the little tassels over the opening to hold the pennies in .

Pence jugs where once very popular gifts. I think they are very glamorous decorated with metal beads and tassels and they commonly had a metal ring on them that would be pulled around the neck of the jug to hold the pennies inside.

This purse has some damage but I was drawn to it because of the very tiny beads that have been threaded on, it must have taken a lot of effort and a long time.

Tiny socks 

Tiny mittens

 Tiny knitting

 Earrings

 Thimble

 Tiny sock

 Tiny dolls dress

The final thing that I did today was take part in a discussion with my group. We have come to the decision that  each of our reports will be individual to us and our interests and our collaborative work will come together in the article we are writing for slipknot, including our experiences and interests in the guild but most importantly to promote the knitting and crochet guild and getting it some more recognition.

-Evangeline-

Todays thoughts...

After today's visit to Lee Mills and Claires lecture, Evangeline, Abbey and me (Liz) had a mini meeting to catch up on what we are actually doing in this project as Claire's lecture kind of scared us!!

It's become clear that we are all taking very different approaches to our project in the archive, which we've decided is absolutely fine as we are still going to go ahead with writing an article as our group project about our experiences at the archive, HOWEVER, we need to make sure in our article that we are promoting and advertising the archive as somewhere anyone can go to learn new things and do a bit of archiving, and not just inform on what we've been doing there. Therefore, each of us really do need to find some really interesting things to be writing about in our final article;
I think to link in with our initial ideas of collecting stories about pieces in the archive we can all gain "stories" of our own from our experiences and this is what we will write about.

so far....

Liz - i'm exploring cable knitting for my project because I love it and it's something my Nan is amazing at. As a knitter I've not actually mastered the art of cabling before, so my role in this project is learning from the ladies and the stories we've heard about (specifically the Princes fisherman sweater) to learn some new techniques. As we don't have unlimited access to the archive and the ladies there I'm going to use my Nan to help me with techniques i'm unsure of, and listen to some of her stories about knitting and look at pieces she has knitted in the past and treat my Nan as a mini family archive of knit.

Abbey - exploring the cross over of drawing and printed designs into knit

Evangeline - exploring knitted miniatures

Meg - exploring the cross over between art and knit

Imogen - War knitting? (please can you blog so we know what you are up to!!)

I think we are all looking at really interesting and completely different takes on knitting which I think will make for a really interesting and diverse article as our final piece!

So far I have...

Taught myself to cable from one of the patterns we've sorted through whilst we've been at the archive!

And today, Ruth helped me pick out part of the pattern of the Little Prince's fishing sweater and taught me how to begin knitting in the round on 4 needles!

The yarn and needles I used to begin knitting in the round today are spares from the archive that they will not be able to archive as there is no indication of make or story behind them. I liked this as I'm giving things that have just been sitting in the archive unused a new life by learning new knitting techniques!!

Knitted toys and objects

 

 I have taken an interest in miscellaneous knitted object and toys and have started to look at some in the mill. They all interest me because they are innovative ideas, they are skilfully made and it is possible that the patterns were made up so they are experimental, and they are individual in their design and in their purpose.

Dominoes

This is a set of domino cards with I carry box; the knit patterns and the colours make the dominoes match. I think this is a wonderful, inventive and experimental idea, it’s not conventional and it’s ideal for children. This toy holds a fun and tactile experience it is also very charming.

Cacti

The person that has made this set of cacti is very skilful; these cacti are a stunningly accurate translation of the real thing. They are entertaining, quirky, and creative as well as being original and imaginative. 

Tea party

 

A lot of work has gone into this set there are so many parts all carefully and accurately made. I really love the teapot set it has been covered in a sugar solution so that it hardens and keeps its shape and the gold yarn gives it added detail. I also really love the little sandwiches and cakes they are so delightful, cute and realistic. This set is unique, attractive and defiantly something special.     

 

Russian dolls

These dolls are great each little doll slips into each other like a Russian doll and they also double up as puppets; they are another imaginative idea that is unconventional, amusing and enjoyable and they have a quaint design. 

Crown

This crown is luxurious it has glittery yarns and gems; I admire its construction it looks like it was carefully planned out. It is and unusual piece and I think that’s what makes it special and unique. These photographs don’t do it justice in real life it is much more impressive. 

Food and Christmas decorations

These pieces just made me simile particularly the pork sausages! They are entertaining little toys and decorations that bring cheer and individuality.

I want to take these fantastic things home with me and I really enjoyed looking through them, I can’t wait to see what interesting things I can find next time at the mill. 

-Evangeline-