Staircase Inspirations

To celebrate my staircase inspired Balustrade Sweater being in The Knitter Magazine Issue 102, I've been sharing some of my favourite staircase photos on Instagram. In case you did not get to see them, here are a selection. If you'd like to join me on Instagram, here is the link to my profile - please come and say hello!

My first staircase post is the amazing installation by Studio Glithero in the centre of a 17.5m deep stairwell at the V&A Museum in London. This installation was part of London Design Festival and was developed in collaboration with the watchmaker Panerai. Exploring the concept of time, this stunning installation is called The Green Room, after the V&A stairwell.

The Green Room by Studio Glithero at the V&A
Photo by Emma Vining

Here is the view inside the stunning Mackintosh Tower at the Lighthouse, Glasgow. The Lighthouse exhibition space always has a great selection of displays and events. Here's the link to my post about my last visit when I went to see the excellent Hello My Name is Paul Smith exhibition earlier this year.

The Mackintosh Tower, The Lighthouse, Glasgow
Photo by Emma Vining

My next stairwell is in Cornwall and is the central staircase at the Falmouth Hotel. I love the way that he beautiful circular set of curving light fixtures contrast with the angular layout of the stairs.

The Falmouth Hotel Staircase
Photo by Emma Vining

Staying in Falmouth for my next staircase inspiration and this one is inside the Lookout Tower at the National Maritime Museum Cornwall. There are fantastic views from the top of the Tower, but I love these stairs too!

The National Maritime Museum Cornwall Lookout Tower Staircase
Photo by Emma Vining

This staircase view is from underneath the stunning central stairs in the Museum of Liverpool. We had a great tour of the nearby Edmund Gardener Pilot Ship led by extremely knowledgable and friendly volunteers from the Museum. Such a great place to visit!

The Liverpool Museum Staircase
Photo by Emma Vining

There are many stunning art nouveau decorative details in the buildings in Brussels, Belgium. I just happened to look up and saw an amazing view of this staircase!

Staircase in Brussels, Belgium
Photo by Emma Vining

My last staircase photo for the moment is from Tate Britain, London: another stunning curved staircase with beautiful lines and details that never fails to inspire me!

Staircase at Tate Britain, London
Photo by Emma Vining

Balustrade Sweater in The Knitter Issue 102

My Balustrade sweater is on the front cover of The Knitter Magazine! I am very proud to have my design on the front cover with a gorgeous sweater by Lisa Richardson. You can see more of all the lovely designs in Issue 102 on the Yarn Loop website and Ravelry.

The Knitter Issue 102
with Balustrade by Emma Vining & Bassey by Lisa Richardson

The stepped design on Balustrade is inspired by the way shadows can add to an extra dimension to a view. I am always fascinated by the way light shining through "things" can elongate and distort lines and stairways are particularly good for this effect. In my sweater design, the combination of lace and cables creates soft lines of steps that move across the garment and meet in the centre. Each step has a twisted stitch and eyelet shadow. A great staircase example for dramatic lighting and shadows is the stunning Nelson Stair at Somerset House, London. I really recommend a visit to Somerset house and there are free tours on Tuesday's and Thursday's that take in many of the highlights and explore the history of this wonderful building.

Balustrade by Emma Vining
Image from The Knitter Magazine

 I love the way the cable steps form a wavy edge on the front of the sweater.

Balustrade by Emma Vining
Image from The Knitter Magazine

I am always on the lookout for interesting stairways and to celebrate Balustrade being published, I will post some of my favourites on Instagram!

Many thanks to Janet T. for contacting me about some errors in the published pattern. The Knitter Magazine will add the errata to their website shortly and updates can be found on the Yarn Loop website.

More Details about The C&TA Norwich Shawls Exhibition

The  Norwich Costume & Textile Association have produced a lovely poster for the Norwich Shawls Exhibition. There are more details about opening times and I hope that lots of visitors will be able to make it along to the Exhibition at the Hostry to see the stunning Shawls.

C&TA Poster for the Norwich Shawls Exhibition

In "Norwich Shawls: Past Glory Future Inspiration", the Norwich Costume & Textile Association (C&TA) will take a look back at the stunning shawls in the collection and then a look forward with interpretations and inspirations from the shawls. I am so pleased that my hand knitted wrap, "The Forum: A New Norwich Wrap" will be in this Exhibition at the Hostry, Norwich Cathedral, from 1st to 15th October 2016. Here is a close up of part of my Wrap. More details soon!

Detail of The Forum: A New Norwich Wrap by Emma Vining

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Journal, Issue 152

The Knitting & Crochet Guild publishes an excellent journal, Skipknot, full of fascinating articles written by Guild members. The latest issue, number 152, has just been delivered and is a great read as usual!

Front Cover of Slipknot Issue 152

The content shows the diverse interests of Guild members, with articles on Hebridean Knitting, Worldwide Knit in Public Day and a Guild visit to the V&A Clothworkers Centre. There are several book reviews including a special focus on Irish Crochet. Alison Ellen's recent exhibition "Soft Engineering" is reviewed (you can visit the Exhibition in Sleaford, 12th November 2016 to 8th January 2017 - see Alison's website for details). Along with branch meeting reports and knitting event reviews, the journal reflects the busy knitting lives of the members!

I am very proud to have three articles published in this issue. My first is a review of the Guild's excellent 2016 Convention (which you can also read on my blog). A visit to Graduate Fashion Week showed that hand knitting is being used in very creative ways by students and recent graduates and you can read more about this in my second article. My third article in this issue is all about my visit to discover more about luxury cashmere garments at Barrie Knitwear in Burlington Arcade, London during this year's London Craft Week. 

If you aren't yet a member of the Guild, please do consider joining. Its a great way to keep up to date with all that is going on in the world of Knitting and Crochet. There is a wealth of information and knowledge amongst our members that is enthusiastically shared at Branch meetings and Open Days. Details of how to join are on the Guild's website. In the meantime, if you don't yet have access to Slipknot, here is my article about my visit to Barrie Knitwear.  

Barrie Cashmere at London Craft Week 2016

(Slipknot, Issue 152)

London Craft Week is an annual event that showcases luxury craft skills. It provides opportunities for highly skilled craft workers to demonstrate their skills. Anyone can attend these events and demonstrations and although some of the events charge a small fee, most of them are free. Looking through the extensive programme for this year's London Craft Week, I noticed an interesting event hosted by Barrie Cashmere at their Burlington Arcade boutique. This was a chance to find out more about the production of luxury cashmere knitted garments. 

Burlington Arcade, London

The Barrie Mill in Hawick produces beautiful cashmere garments for several luxury brands. Founded in 1903, the Mill was famously rescued from bankruptcy by Chanel's Parafection subsidiary in 2012. The Parafection subsidiary is known as the French group's "artisan division", which seeks to promote and preserve artisan skills in fashion. Although the mill is now owned by Chanel, customers continue to include many other luxury brands such as Hermes, Dior and Yves Saint Laurent. In the last few years, Barrie, a distinctive own label, has also been developed. The Burlington Arcade shop is Barrie's second stand alone retail unit. The first shop opened in Paris on the Rue Saint Honoure in June 2014.

Knitwear for the Barrie label is designed by Creative Director Odile Massuger, part of Chanel's own knitwear team. Her beautiful garments combine technical excellence with stunning luxury cashmere fibres. 

The LCW16 event at Barrie was hosted by Claire, who is the head of design. The Barrie mill in Hawick employs approximately 250 people and also runs its own training scheme to develop the specialised skills needed to work with fine cashmere fibres. To our delight, Claire had brought along two big bags of cloud-like soft cashmere fibre for us to feel.

Claire described how each garment is meticulously planned before being knitted up in pieces. Once the main parts of the garment are knitted, they are joined and then washed and pressed. Claire had brought “before and after” samples with her and the difference was amazing to feel. With all the lanolin washed out and the garment pressed, the fibres had softened and the stitches had relaxed. We all had the chance to try on this gorgeous sweater to feel it’s softness first hand!

I particularly wanted to look at some interesting textural open work knitting that I had spotted on the Barrie website. Claire took us for a close up view and explained how the design was formed by knitting each small section separately then joining up these sections and repeating. The resulting machine knit openwork fabric is lightweight and of course, has the beautiful drape of cashmere.

This LCW16 event was a fascinating insight into an own label brand working along side, but distinct from, a large world renowned brand. It was also an interesting example of a big brand nurturing creativity with a view to the long term. Preserving the skills and knowledge at the Barrie mill is a key aim for Chanel. 

For more information on next year's London Craft Week programme, that runs from Wednesday 3rd to Sunday 7th May 2017, visit http://www.londoncraftweek.com. 

Norwich Shawls: Past Glory Future Inspiration

The Norwich Costume & Textile Association (C&TA) have a fascinating Exhibition coming up at the Hostry, Norwich Cathedral. In "Norwich Shawls: Past Glory Future Inspiration", the C&TA will take a look back at the stunning shawls in their collection and then a look forward with textile art inspired by the shawls.

C&TA Exhibition Leaflet detail

I am absolutely thrilled to have had work accepted for this Exhibition! My hand knitted wrap, "The Forum: A New Norwich Wrap" will be in the Exhibition from 1st to 15th October 2016. I will be posting more details about the Exhibition and my work over the next few weeks, so please look out for updates!

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016

This year The Knitting &Crochet Guild Convention took place on the first weekend in July on the Endcliffe Village Campus of the University of Sheffield. It was an excellent weekend with many highlights. Most of all it was a wonderful chance to catch up with Guild members and be completely absorbed in knitting and crochet for three consecutive days!

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection
Knitting needles from the Collection

Along with a large group of other delegates, I arrived the day before the Convention so that we could visit the Guild's Collection, near Holmfirth on the Friday. I had never visited Lee Mills, the home of the Collection before, but have always enjoyed seeing items at Knitting Shows and through Trunk Show presentations by Barbara and Angharad. As there were a substantial group of us, the Collections Team split us into four groups to ensure we got a close look at everything.

First stop for my group was Barbara, showing us publication highlights. The Guild Collection contains 1,200 catalogued books and approximately 50,000 pattern leaflets as well as the Patons Archive. Barbara had prepared a great overview and my favourite book was The Stitchery Annual from 1913, edited by Flora Klickmann, with its beautiful cover and gorgeous illustrations. 

Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection
The Stitchery Annual, 1913, ed by Flora Klickmann

On stop number two, Angharad presented us with a wide selection of garments and accessories from all over the British Isles, from gainsay sweaters to fair isle shawls and from aran jumpers to rare gloves from the Yorkshire Dales. These beautiful Dent gloves were dated 1910 and were most likely "knitted for best" as they are in such great condition. 

The Knitting& Crochet Guild Collection
Close up of 1910 Yorkshire Dales gloves

Maureen's presentation began with her taking the top off an old shell canister to reveal that it was full of knitting needles! The canister and needles had been donated to the Guild, but there was little information about the owner. Cataloguing information had to be worked out by the approximate date of the canister and the materials used to make the needles. This was a great example illustrating the kind of social history clues that the Lee Mills team use to date items n the Collection. Another section of the knitting equipment collection includes a huge number of needle gauges and a clue for dating these items is the conversion from imperial to metric systems in the early 1970s. Some of the gauges also have yarn company logos and magazine names printed on them. 

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection
Needle Gauges 

The Guild visits many knitting and crochet shows throughout the year and our stand is always decorated with a theme. This year we are focusing on colour work. In our last presentation at Lee Mills, Julia showed us her design development for the boards that will be used on the stands. Each board relates to a season and Julia has selected stitch patterns from lots of items in the collection to create beautiful borders, birds, animals and scenery. I really enjoyed hearing about all the work Julia put into the boards and how she selected the designs. This innovative way to promote colour work had us all guessing which part of which design came from which garment!

The Knitting & Crochet Guild
Autumn Display Board

Thank you very much to the whole Collection Team for making our visit so informative and inspiring. We'll all be looking out for more opportunities to visit again.

Members of The Knitting & Crochet Guild Collection Team

We returned to the University for the formal welcome and introduction to the Conference, followed by two breakout sessions before dinner. Delegates explored "How to host a trunk show" with Angharad and "Turning a group into a Guild Branch" with Barbara. 

Our Conference dinner was held at Halifax Hall on the Campus and after our meal we were delighted to hear from our keynote speaker, Susan Crawford. Along with other Conference delegates, I have been following Susan's amazing work over the years. In particular, her current project on Vintage Shetland Knitting has generated a huge amount of excitement in the world of knitting! The crowdfunding for the Vintage Shetland project was so oversubscribed that Susan has been able to add more information, detail and images to the book of the project than she had originally planned. Susan told us about her long-held passion for Shetland knitting and about the challenges she faced in recreating these stunning garments. Her husband's system for translating the data she gathered from the archive garments into new charts and a virtual knitted fabric was really clever. There were gasps from the audience when Susan revealed some of the stunning finished garments. Each one had a very interesting story and it was fascinating to hear how much work had gone into getting each one just right. Thank you so much to Susan for this personal insight into the project and the chance to look closely at the garments. I can't wait for my book to arrive in mid August!

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Keynote Speaker, Susan Crawford

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Keynote Speaker, Susan Crawford discussing garments with delegates

The second day of the Conference began with a very colourful talk by Nic Rudd about her journey from full time teacher to indie yarn dyer as "Yarns from the Plain". This is the Cheshire Plain and Nic uses lots of local names for her yarns. Her yarn range includes a special blend by John Arbon that is made up of Exmoor Blueface and Alpaca and has a very soft feel. Beautiful scarves made in Nics Yarn were passed around the room including a lovely design that was on the cover of Inside Crochet. Nic said that she probably should streamline the colours she produces, but she is inspired by so many different things that she frequently feels like a kid in a sweet shop when it comes to colour choices! Look out for Nic and her lovely yarns over the next few months at Shows all over the country.

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016

Nic Rudd, Yarns from the Plain

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016

Yarns from the Plain Crochet Scarf

Our AGM in the late morning took care of the formal business of the weekend.The Guild currently has 29 active branches and our membership recently increased by over 30%, with new members joining from all over the world. Our 763 members all receive Slipknot, our Guild publication. Slipknot has recently been updated and reformatted and now includes colour photos as well as lots of interesting articles and news items by members. The Yarn Shop Scheme is also expanding. Fiona has written to over 200 yarn shops to tell them about the Guild and encourage them to join. So far 25 have signed up and Fiona is actively looking to expand our links to many more.

The AGM was followed by a very helpful session on "how to get the best out of the Guild's Facebook page". Rebecca and the Guild's Facebook moderating team, Marion, Jacqui and Lin lead us all through the main points, from logging on, to sharing photos and this was much appreciated by delegates.

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016

KCG Facebook Moderating Team

The Guild Convention is known for hosting a great selection of workshops and this year was no exception. Five excellent workshops ran during the afternoon, covering a variety of knitting and crochet techniques and, from the positive feedback afterwards, all delegates enjoyed themselves. I certainly enjoyed the Möbius knitting workshop that was run by Sarah Cage. Sarah had brought some of her own möbius knits for us to see, including a fascinating hat design. She also provided us with great handouts on the möbius technique, focusing on the critical cast on. The other workshops were Two colour double knitting with Fiona Morris; Advanced Tunisian crochet with Lindy Zubairy; Shawl design (crochet) with Ann Flanagan; Victorian knitting patterns with Lesley O'Connell Edwards. Barbara has blogged about Lesley's workshop and you can read her post here.

My favourite part of the convention was the Show and Tell. This year delegates had brought along an amazing selection of fabulous knitting and crochet. Unfortunately it was a bit dark in the bar area for photographs, but I hope that the photos below show some of the wide range of skills we have amongst our members.

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Show and Tell

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Show and Tell

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Show and Tell

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Show and Tell

Sunday morning began with a very interesting presentation by Zoe Fletcher. Zoe's research for her PhD, "Designing for Breed" is all about promoting British Breeds in the world of design and pushing the perception of British wool from coarse and itchy to luxurious. Having collected samples of 72 pure breed sheep fibres, along with SEM imaging scans for them all, Zoe has created a database using Shima Seiki 3D knitting technology. This allows virtual knitted samples to be mapped onto body shapes for a realistic finished garment look. Zoe's beautiful illustrations nd user-friendly designs are integral to her PhD and her aim to communicate the properties of each individual type of sheep fleece in a way that encourages wide-spread use. Lots of us also took the chance to buy one of her lovely sheep breed posters.

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Zoe Fletcher

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
A selection of Zoe's samples

Our second set of workshops began mid morning and again, it had been hard to choose which one to do! Although I have designed several wraps, I always want to learn more about design techniques and was therefore delighted to be in the Shawl Design workshop lead by Ann and Katie. This workshop was a great example of collaboration within the Guild. Ann and Katie had never met before the Convention, but as they both have lots of Shawl knitting knowledge, they had decide to do a joint workshop. The planning took place via email and Skype and the resulting workshop was a great success. They started us all on a miniature Stonington Shawl sample and then shared some of their own amazing shawls with us. We looked at several different kinds of shawl construction in different weights of yarn and at a range of books and publications. I really enjoyed this workshop and once again, have learned very useful new techniques. The other workshops running at the same time were Mitred Squares with Anne Scahil; Double Filet Crochet with Barbara Mann; New Approaches to Fair Isle knitting with Rita Taylor and Broomstick Crochet with Helen Jordan.

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Shawl Design Workshop with Ann and Katie

The Knitting & Crochet Guild Convention 2016
Shawl Design Workshop with Ann and Katie

All too soon it was time to leave, but we all have details of next year's convention in Birmingham 7th - 9th July 2017 and I am so looking forward to seeing everyone then. Thank you very much to Tricia and all our Board members for an excellent Convention. I really value the opportunity to learn new techniques, socialise with other members and most importantly, be part of such a welcoming, inclusive, positive community.

The Menil Collection

A few years ago, I visited the beautiful Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas. I was very moved by the fourteen enormous Rothko paintings and the serene, contemplative atmosphere in this small, non-denominational building in the centre of the busy city. The Rothko Chapel is just one part of the campus that makes up the Menil Collection. Created by John and Dominique de Menil, this private collection consists of almost 16,000 works that range from the Palaeolithic era to the present day. Last week I had the chance to see some of the other buildings and exhibits that make up this amazing Collection.

The Menil Collection
View from the entrance hall.

Isolated Mass/ Circumflex (#2) 1968-78
by Michael Heizer
Displayed at the entrance to the Menil Collection

The Menil Collection opened to the public in 1987. The main building was designed by Renzo Piano in collaboration with Dominique de Menil, taking into account her requirement that objects from the Collection should be displayed in natural light. The innovative building designed by Renzo Piano uses a special roof structure to keep direct sunlight off the objects, but at the same time reflects natural light downwards into the galleries. My favourite galleries housed the Arts of the Pacific Islands and had lovely plants growing between them. The beautiful sculptures on display are free-standing, allowing for close up viewing. (Photography is only allowed in the hallway and outside the buildings, so please click on the exhibition links to see more images.)

The long central corridor of the Menil Collection main building.

There were several temporary exhibitions in the galleries. Entrancing photographs by Henri Cartier-Bresson were on display in "Life is Once, Forever" and "The Secret of the Hanging Egg; Salvador Dali at the Menil",  had many thought-provoking works by Dali, Max Ernst, Renee Magritte and other prominent Surrealist painters and sculptors. In the centre of this exhibition we came across "Witnesses; to a Surrealist Vision", a fascinating on-going exhibition dedicated to the inspiration that fuelled the surreal view of the world. The objects in this exhibition "were either owned by the Surrealists or are in the spirit of those they collected".

From the main building, we walked to Richmond Hall a few blocks away. This was definitely worth the hot walk in 101F! Dominique de Menil commissioned Dan Flavin to create this permanent installation in 1996. Flavin's light installation in the huge, otherwise bare hall of this 1930s former supermarket is beautiful. The longer you look, the more the many individual coloured fluorescent lights glow, reflect and blend together. At the back of the hall is a small room with bright light sculptures created by Flavin in 1964-69 and inspired by the Russian Constructivist movement.

From here, we were directed a few blocks away to the Byzantine Chapel, currently exhibiting the Fabiola Project by Francis Alys. The initial impact of this installation is to make the viewer wonder at the enormous number of repetitive images of Fabiola, a fourth century Christian Saint, brought together in one place. After a few minutes of looking, you begin realise how different each image actually is and by the time you leave, you wonder how you ever thought they were the same!

The Menil Colletion
Byzantine Chapel

Our last stop on this fascinating visit was to the Cy Twombly Gallery. This building was also designed by Renzo Piano, based on a sketch by Twombly. The gallery opened in 1995 and houses a permanent installation of Cy Twombly's work. Although the building looks small from the outside, once inside you walk into several large gallery spaces that display Twombly's enormous canvasses. My favourite room contained an untitled series of nine paintings that can be viewed, along with his other works, on the Cy Twombly website.

I loved the afternoon that my family, friends and I spent on the Menil Collection Campus. The beautiful buildings contain an enormous variety of objects and art that are continually being rotated. This quote from Dominique de Menil summarises her vision for the Collection and is the reason why I am really looking forward to my next visit!

"I came up with a concept ... we would rotate the works of art ... The public would never know museum fatigue. Works would appear, disappear, and reappear like actors on a stage. Each time they would be seen with a fresh eye.” —Dominique de Menil

The main entrance to the Menil Collection