The Craft Council Gallery's Annual Member Exhibit

I'm very pleased to announce that some of my work will be on display in the Craft Council Gallery's upcoming Annual Member Exhibit! The exhibit's opening reception is this Friday (June 27th) from 7-9pm and the exhibit will run throughout the summer. More information can be found here.

There will be some amazing work on display there - be sure to stop by and check it out!

What's Next

Well, the end of the exhibition is drawing near, and my official graduation ceremony is looming in the not so distant future of next week. I'd like to thank everyone who made it down to the show to see my whale, and encourage anyone who hasn't seen it to do so! The exhibition will remain open until 6pm on Saturday, June 14th.

And while I'm on the topic of thank yous, there are a number of people to whom I'd like to extend my gratitude for helping with this project in whatever way they did. To the staff at the Anna Templeton Centre, my fellow classmates, and my instructors, especially my knitting instructor, for being understanding and accommodating throughout this whole process; to my friends for liking my Facebook posts and listening to me complain about the difficulties of knitting a whale; and to everyone who offered advice about whale building and blog writing: I am so grateful for all of your help and support. Thank you.

So what's next for Woolly? Well, I'll have to dismantle him once the exhibition ends, but only temporarily. I have more opportunities to exhibit in the works, so keep checking back for updates on where Woolly might end up next!

And what's next for this blog? And for me? After I graduate, I'll have the summer off, and then I plan to return to the Textiles program part-time in the fall to study embroidery and surface embellishment. I discovered a love for embroidering this year throughout the creation of my non-whale pieces of work, and I'm eager to improve my skills and learn more. I'll continue to update this blog with the progression of my textiles adventure, as well as any whale news when it happens.

Detail of "Mockingbird"

"Red Fox Teacups and Saucers" photo by Noah Bender

So, I Knit a Whale.

Well.

The exhibition is open, and the whale is done. Apologies for not posting for the past couple of weeks, but I was working on the whale day and night trying to get it finished in time for the opening of the exhibition!

Putting a few finishing touches on

So, the exhibition opened on Saturday with great success, and I'm thrilled to say that I've had nothing but great feedback on the whale so far. This project has taken over my life for the past several months in a very huge way, and I'm so proud of it now that it's finally done.

The whale, along with the rest of the artwork in the exhibition, will remain on display until June 14th. The exhibition is at the Anna Templeton Centre at 278 Duckworth St., and is open 12pm-6pm daily, and 12pm-8pm on Thursdays and Fridays. I'd encourage anyone in the St. John's area to stop by and check out what I've made, as well as the amazing work that my classmates have done. 

There are also several special events that take place throughout the course of the exhibition that are sure to be lots of fun:

Fashion Boutique and Cocktail Party: Thursday, June 5th 7-9pm

An evening to showcase the amazing one-of-a-kind garments featured in our graduate fashion show. Try them on, have a cocktail, and find a lovely new addition to your wardrobe!

Free School: Saturday, June 7th 2-4pm

Stop by and take part in a series of informal textile workshops for all levels of experience! Includes lessons in cable knitting, rug hooking, natural dyes, and more. Free and kid-friendly.

Secret Garden Secret Kitchen: Saturday, June 14th 1-4pm

"Join us for a special food celebration on closing day with tapas style plates and refreshing summer beverages to enjoy while you take this last chance to wander through the exhibition. $12"

I'd also like to point you in the direction of textile artist Judy Cooper's blog. Judy has featured the progress of my whale on her blog a couple of times throughout the process. She came to the exhibition opening on Saturday and took some photos of our work and wrote a lovely post about the show, which you can read here.

Check back within the next week or so for a post about the direction this blog will take now that the whale is done! In the meantime, I hope to see you at the exhibition... please get in touch if you'd like to go at a time when I will personally be there.

Back at It

I've returned from Montreal, and am back working on the whale with plans to finish the knitting this week.

Here's a couple of shots of one of the sides being blocked:

Also, I had an interview with CBC today about the whale project, which will air tonight on Here and Now at 5:30pm Newfoundland time!

Knitting the Sides of the Whale

So I've been working on knitting the side panels for the whale:

Each panel tapers on either end. It remains at it's widest point, 30 inches, for 3 feet in the middle of the panel. This 3 foot length will span the distance between the 2 largest ribs (which are equal size). 

So that I'd be able to place that 3 foot section precisely when it goes on the whale, I tied marker points on either side of the panel at the beginning and end of the 3 foot section:

Everything was going pretty smoothly until I was one foot from the end of one of the panels. A screw had come loose from the underside of the carriage (the thing that slides back and forth across the knitting machine), and caught on one of the needles, causing it to bend:

Normally when a needle gets bent, you just take it out and replace it. This one had gotten so messed up that it was stuck inside the knitting machine, and ended up taking a couple of hours to get it out.

And then I had to figure out where the screw had come loose from the underside of the carriage, which looks like this:

And has about a billion screws.

But, anyway, I finally got it all working and continued with the knitting. Here's a finished side panel, ready to be blocked:

And here's a shot of my new wool, waiting to be dyed (which will have to wait until I get back from my trip in a week!)

Work on the Whale Continues

With my other projects (mostly) complete and my final critique behind me, I can now return to work on the whale. My wool has arrived, so I'll be working on starting to dye that hopefully over the next few days.

In terms of the actual knitting that remains, like I've mentioned, I have about one third of the whale knit.  I had to knit the front half of the belly seperately from the back half in order to make the throat grooves, but the sides and top of the whale don't have any specific texture requirements like that. That means that  I should just be able to knit the panels in 28 foot lengths that will span from one end of the whale to the other. Each of these panels can be up to 30 inches wide, so I'll have to knit four of them. They'll each be the full 30 inches at their widest point in the middle of the panel, and then taper on either end.

I'm aiming to get two of these panels knit over the course of the next several days, as I'll be heading out of town on Saturday for a week!

Aaaand another reminder to take a peek at the blog for my graduating class and see what everyone else has been up to! Our graduation events are comprised of a fashion show on May 28th at the LSPU Hall in St. John's, and an exhibition that opens on May 31st at the Anna Templeton Centre and runs for two weeks, where my whale and my other work will be on display!

Whale Belly on the Whale

Sewing on the second half of the whale belly with Sarah: