I am taking off into unknown areas now. Into the trees with my latest creation, which I am calling Bark & Vines. Probably #1. It took a lot of pondering before the first stitch. There are simply endless ways to represent bark in a knit fabric. Not only could it be a knitted barkground of scale-like patterns, in a solid tightly knit fabric, it can also be light and lace-like, with many irregular stitches laid down with absolutely no pattern or plan in mind other than to make certain that there is no particular patterning going on. So, I just started out with knit stitches, creating an irregular edge by adding on unevenly with each progressive row. As the rows built up, I randomly added in purl stitches, yarn overs and knitting 2 togethers. Because the yarn is a lightweight Silky Wool by Elsebeth Lavold, the stitches really control the fabric. The result is a very rumply, textural relief surface that does remind me of tree bark. Now, I am in the process of creating vines: ...I-cord ropes that will twine in and out of the holes, and twist about each other with elegant green leaves extending outward to frame the face.
