The Knitted Flower Project Thesis

Here is the thesis! Let me know what you think and thank you so much for participating in this project.

The Knitted Flower Project Thesis

View more PDF documents from knittedflowerproject.

Knitted Flower Project Reception

Last night was the reception for the project! I was delighted that so many friends and knitters were able to attend see the art, fondle the yarn, and eat snacks, including some of the 75 cupcakes my mom and I baked the night before! I have set up a Flickr album of all the images from the project including the images from the installation and reception. Please check it out and feel free to use images. Also, I am in the midst of finishing up the written portion of the thesis. I defend on June 4th and it should be done done done about a week later. I will send around as soon as it's approved.

Last Round of Flowers

The office staff had to stack boxes on top of the mail box slots - only reiterating the fact that I have the COOLEST research project out of everyone in the department, thanks to all of you! The flower above is from Reneé. It has the most delicate little stamen's at the center.
The above set, is from Robin and they are beautiful. The green one in the center is my fave. The set below is from Andi who threw some purls bumps in there to create a cool spiral effect. Very nice.
Finally, these purple blooms are from Julia and came wrapped up like a gift. They are beaded and buttoned and...bodacious? Yep, I am going to say bodacious.
Again, again, again, thank you soooooooooo much! I feel like I cannot thank you enough. I am giving a presentation about this research tomorrow at the Urban Arts Space in Columbus (also where I work) and I feel like all of you are going to be there through your brilliant comments and gorgeous flowers. THANK YOU!

Discussion #12

This is it! The last discussion question. First thing first. I received a "valentine" from Debbie complete with confettiThe heart revealed these three gemsThanks Debbie! I also spent Saturday putting the flowers together with the "research assistant":I never get tired of playing with the hot glue gun!Now, for the final discussion:

What do you think? Did you enjoy participating in this project? If so, why? If not, why not? What was you favorite part? Your least favorite?

There will be a few more posts so please check back. I will keep you updated on the exhibition process, any new flowers that arrive, and the thesis process. One last reminder that the deadline to submit comments and flowers is March 31 (mail the flowers about five days before March 31). Finally, I have postcards for the exhibition! If you submitted some flowers or commented and would like a handful of postcards as a keep sake or to give to friends (or both) please send your snail mail address to knittedflowerproject@gmail.com and I will send some along! I hope all of you can attend the reception on April 24th at Wonderknit.

Discussion #11

Here we are, the second to last discussion question. This week we have flowers by Susan. They have amazing little felted and beaded centers.And these flowers are from Pam... ...yep, that is a fly! Gross, yet still charming.Thanks so much ladies! Now I have been at work all weekend trying to create a way to display these little artworks. I'll be honest, I am a little overwhelmed at the response - there are so many! A direct result of how amazing all of you are. I organized them by color and felt a little better about the situation. I have decided to exhibit them on birch panels supported on poplar stretchers. I haven't made panels since art school about five years ago.The learning curve was steep.But I got there. There are eight - one 3' x 3' panel and seven 1' by 1' panels.I am using a combination of wood stain, gesso (a canvas primer), and acrylic paint to create the base color scheme. The flowers and quotes from your comments will be on the panels and the panels will be on the wall!My hope is that the finished product will feel organic. We shall see. One of the goals of this project is to interweave your stories and words with my "formal" historical research. I put formal in quotes because I feel that your blog quotes and the flowers you have knit are just as formal and valid as the theory and history books and articles I read for the other chapters of my thesis. All of it consists of the stories and narratives of people - both the academic writing and this blog. Traditionally, research has not looked like this - anecdotal, personal, narrative, or in artwork form. Narrative research and arts-based research attempts to challenge the idea that research must take place in a laboratory or a library. Instead, research can involve individual stories, the process of artmaking, and can happen in an online forum. It can be a hard sell.

How do you feel about personal stories as forms of research? What about the use of a blog or artmaking?

Finally, I want to remind everyone about the March 31st deadline for posts and flowers. The artwork goes up on April 4th at Wonderknits! Looking forward to your posts.

Discussion #10

Here we go...just 2 more questions left after this week. Just a reminder to comment where you want to comment and knit the flowers you need to knit. It all has to be in by March 31st. Above are some images from a very glamorous knitted flower photo shoot. I spent the day designing the exhibition announcement and just sent it off to Hotcards for printing! To the left I have added the exhibition information. Wonderknit will be hosting The Knitted Flower Project April 5, 2009 - May 6, 2009 with a reception on April 24, 2009 from 6-9pm. Wonderknit is located at 3165 North High Street, Columbus, Ohio 43202. I hope to see all of you there so I can thank you personally for your beautiful flowers and wonderful stories.This week I have a flower from Lindsay (my only felted flower).
Two mondo bulky weight flowers from Cath.
Some little flowers with jewel centers from Ingrid (the one at the top is gigantic, truely).And some classy blue and neutral flowers from Linda. Today's question is:

Have you ever taught someone to knit? Do you have a particular story?

I have taught a few people to knit. I think my favorite story comes from teaching one of my former third grade students. I was working at an elementary school as an after school program teaching assistant. On laid back days I would knit while the kids played. A few of the students wanted to learn so I told their parents what they needed to buy - some simple acrylic yarn and shorter size 7 or 8 needles. This particular third grader really took to it. She was kind of a wild child but super creative - she wanted to be a fashion designer and was taking drawing classes at one of the local art schools. Knitting seemed to really mellow her out and help her focus. One day, a group of us were knitting and chatting. I happened to be watching this future fashion designer just as she reached the end of her row. Instead of flipping her needles and working back the other way, she started knitting backward along the same needle! Amazed, I asked her who taught her to knit backwards because it certainly wasn't me, I don't have those kinds of skills! She shrugged and said she had been experimenting at home and just figured it out. I was blown away. Future in fashion, working with textiles? Not a doubt in my mind. Do you have any knitting proteges out there?

Discussion #9

We are reaching the home stretch of the Knitted Flower Project and I am happy to tell all of you that we have a venue to display these gorgeous flowers! I am still ironing out the details but WonderKnit in here in Columbus, Ohio has agreed to host the exhibition! I will be posting all the details next week. In celebration I knit these outrageous flowers in some leftover super-bulky and many-strands-held-together yarn. I wanted something lush and tropical. They are as big as my face.I also received these little gems from The Book Faerie. Thanks!This weeks question draws on an experience many of us have had.

How do others respond to you when you knit in public? Do you have a particular story?

When I first started knitting while I was in college I was working as a bartender at a pool hall called Suzi Cue. Incidentally, this is where I met my dear, sweet, patient boyfriend. On slow nights I would knit behind the bar. This was before the smoking ban...and when I was still a smoker...and so my sad little knitting projects smelled like ash and booze, but aside from that, they made for great conversation starters. I heard many stories about grandmothers, mothers, and even a grandfather whose wife taught him to knit after he had a stroke to help him regain dexterity in his hands. Now that I'm writing about it, I guess that is where the early seeds for this project were planted. In addition to the bar I knit in other bars, all over the Ohio State University campus, in coffee shops, the doctor's office, at work (when I worked at an elementary school I ended up teaching a couple students), at the beach, on the bus, on the subway (when I was in Germany this summer), at lectures, in the airport, on the airplane, in the movie theatre, at parks...I've pretty much been known to plop down anywhere and whip out my knitting and just about every time, without fail, people want to know what I'm making, where I learned, is it difficult, how long does it take? And then they tell me their own stories about people they know that knit, how they used to knit, how they would like to learn. As all of you already know I LOVE stories. So please tell me your KIP (knitting in public) yarns.