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Seeing Sense

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I was appalled to read this morning about how Tesco ripped off one of Little Cotton Rabbit‘s adorable bunny egg cosies. I’ve admired Julie’s work from afar, and been delighted by her sweet creations, many of which she shares the patterns for, for free! For a corporate giant like Tesco to so blatantly copy her work is depressing, and I hope that this will be brought to the attention of the media. Update: Julie has taken the original post down, as it had attracted too much attention. Perhaps it would be a more meaningful silent protest for us knitters to knit one of her bunnies instead.

I’ve been meaning to participate in Abby’s Five Senses Friday for a while now, so here’s a little sensual insight into my day:
Smelling: Body Shop Tea Rose Perfume. Mmm. I’m not even sure what a tea rose is, but it certainly smells pretty. The (now sadly discontinued) Kidsilk Spray colour ‘tea rose’ is rather tempting too!
Hearing: J.J. Cale, ‘Money Talks’. Rockingest man around!
Tasting: Shiraz.
Seeing: John Seymour’s The New Complete Book of Self-Sufficiency on the table.
Touching: RYC Silk Cotton in ‘bloom’. Hmm, wonder what this will be? ;)

17th April, 2009 // Knitwear Design // tags: design, Life, sense.

First Experiments in Logo Design

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I’m relatively new to vector graphic design, and especially to logo design, but I needed something to use on the Laylock website and on patterns. Laylock is an old word for ‘lilac’, so the lilac flower and colour were my chief inspiration. I began by looking through photographs of lilacs on Flickr. I particularly like the slightly upturned tips of the petals of the lilacs, and I thought the simple corolla of the classic four-petal lilacs would translate well into a logo. I began with a few fussy details, like the crease lines on the petals, and the shadows around the edges where the petals curl; then I began to simplify the design, trying my best to incorporate negative space into the image, since white and lilac are the most common colours for lilac flowers. But I felt the pattern wasn’t working; it looked very flat and almost too symmetrical. The fat petals also did little to represent the grace and delicacy of the flower, so I abandoned the motif and went back to the photos to see if I could find a more lively and appropriate representation. (read more…)

17th December, 2008 // Laylock // tags: design, graphics, Laylock, lilac, logo.

Playing Houses

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I was playing around with knitting some house-shaped coasters/ornaments the other evening, but I realised they would involve cutting and rejoining the yarn quite a few times. I was feeling lazy and I began to wonder whether I could knit them in one piece, so I would only have to weave in two ends. It turned out to be a bit more complicated than I could work out at the time, but I have been thinking about it ever since as a sort of challenge. It reminds me a bit of the trick of drawing the envelope without taking the pen off the paper. Here is the shape I was trying to achieve. I used garter stitch, but you don’t have to. The only stipulation is that you don’t cut and rejoin the yarn, dimensions are entirely up to you. Can you do it?

Post a comment here or on the Ravelry forums if you find a solution; all the better if you knit it up and take a photo. I will post my solution next Sunday. Have fun!

14th December, 2008 // Knitwear Design // tags: challenge, design, house, play, thinking knitting.

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