A Universe of Making
patterns left to right: Gan, TULC, &Versal
photos by Gary McLaughlin
I feel like I’ve spent 2021 getting years of pent up design ideas out of my system. And I am pleased with what came out of that, especially the basics patterns - including the Gan sweater vest, the Ultimate Lazy Cardigan, and the Versal pullover shown above. In fact I had to double check that all three of those patterns came out in 2021. They did. Along with 12 other garment patterns (i.e. 15 garment patterns in total), and 10 accessory patterns.
In retrospect… I think that is too much. An average of two patterns a month for the duration of an entire year is too much. I worked in a too-focused manner to make that happen, at the expense of other creative endeavours. And I think it was worth it for the duration of that year, as it helped me find my way as a designer as only an intensive like that could. It was almost like a DIY postgraduate degree. Which I’ve now completed, and so it’s time for a transition.
At the end of November of this year, my husband surprised me with a new camera. It is very different from any camera I had used before, and so naturally I started using it lots - in order to get to know it and adapt to the change. It was then I realised: I had taken very few meaningful, creative photos this year that were not pattern photos. I was longing to get back to it, in particular to my long-standing interest in tableau photography. And instead of seeing it as I had previously, as something that competed - time and energy-wise - with pattern photography, I suddenly saw everything building up to a unified whole.
And it is that idea I hope to explore in 2022. I have gotten the frenzied pattern-writing out of my system; I have established my creative space. Now I would like to open that space up, to make it multidisciplinary - so that my designs live and breathe beyond the pages of knitting patterns, escaping out into a fantasy universe of my own making.
In the process of pursuing this, I will still keep my knitting patterns as ‘normal’ as possible. But if you would like to join me in that supplementary fantasy space - be it for the photography, or the narrative - you are very welcome there as well.
