Thesis Question

So here it is.

After a lot of research and pondering of the many different directions I could take my love of knitting combined with design, I finally came to a topic that makes me feel excited and hopeful when I think about it. For many years I have told myself that one day I would help others less fortunate than myself. Apart from dropping pocket change in the red buckets outside the grocery store every holiday season, I never really made good on my promise. Now is the time for me to do this. So without further ado, here is my Thesis Question:

For my BFA thesis critical question, I am choosing to research the social history of handcrafts, especially knitting, and how it has been used to help communities in the past and how I can use it to help my community today. How can I use design to continue and enhance the tradition of knitting for the community?

I think this topic should be pursued because there are a great number of people in need in the city of Denver, especially during the winter season, that I think can be helped by knitting.

Through the pursuit of this topic, I will learn more about how knitting has been used in the past to help a wide range of people, from premature infants to soldiers fighting in wars overseas. I also hope to gain insight into Denver’s homeless community and what I can do to help people stay warm when they have no choice but to be outside during the night.

I will use design to make printed instructions on basic knitting techniques to be included with a skein of yarn and knitting needles that will be provided to homeless citizens of Denver. Along with this basic starter kit, I will also use my design skills to make an instructional DVD that can be played at homeless shelters or any other community resource that is available to people in need.

I will use video footage, motion graphics, and typography to make the instructional video, as well as my typography and page layout skills to make the printed instructions. My goal is to teach a useful skill to people who can use it to help themselves, and maybe even others in need.

Helping Out

As excited as I was about finding a way of using design and technology to help knitters to identify themselves to one another, I thought more about how whatever comes out of this thesis project could potentially help people.

According to this document from the City of Denver, over 4,500 people each year are considered to be homeless. Some residents of Denver live in shelters, or even in cars or underneath bridges. Winters in Colorado can be extremely cold, especially at night. I thought about how I never leave the house without a hat during the winter. Over the years I have knitted myself quiet a few hats, so I can be a little bit warmer outside. I have a large (perhaps overly so) collection of yarn at home, and I can make a hat, scarf, or mittens whenever I feel like, but not many other people can. If I were to help the homeless of Denver learn how to make their own things to keep themselves warm, it could make the Colorado winters a little more bearable for some. If the homeless residents of Denver knew how to knit their own hats and scarves, it would not only help them stay warm, but also give a sense of accomplishment.

I feel that I could use my skills as a knitter and as a designer to help the homeless in Denver, and that would be something I would be proud of.

Social Knitting

After talking with Bryan Leister, I thought more about researching the social aspect of knitting. With websites like Ravelry (kind of like the Facebook of the knitting world) and Etsy, as well as knitting circles at yarn shops and organized groups such as Stitch n' Bitch, knitting and other fiber crafts are a huge part of people's lives, and being able to share that with other people is important. For centuries knitting has been an important part of society, as a means to keep warm, then a skill to be possessed by a "proper" lady, then as a hobby, and now as a hobby/art form/reason to socialize/stress therapy.

Some possible forms that this research could take would be a way for knitters to identify with each other, a quick way of trading information (such as email addresses or Ravelry usernames) so that knitters can keep in contact with each other easily. Even though I am always eager to strike up a conversation with someone who is knitting or is wearing something I suspect to be hand-knitted, not everybody else is, so having a way to easily identify with other knitters could be a good icebreaker for the more shy knitters in the world.

Some Interesting Things

Michael suggested I look at the work of Leah Buechley, who works with combing high- and low-technology. Using beads, LED lights, and a motion sensor, she created a cool bracelet that she displayed at SIGGRAPH 2007. She also created something a little more useful, using her Lilypad Arduino, which can be sewn into almost any piece of clothing. This page and video shows her biking jacket with turn signals built in.

Or...

I could combine my two previous ideas into one. Cat Mazza created the open-source web app KnitPro (http://www.microrevolt.org/knitPro/), which converts any picture uploaded by the user into a stitch chart for knitting or needlepoint. This app was made with code, which at its very smallest elements is made up of binary 1s and 0s.

I think looking into how knitting has been helped into the digital age with a process that is so different from the craft, but also so very similar at the same time. The relationship is definitely something I would like to explore!

Getting closer...

Still trying to narrow down a good question, but I know I want to research more into how craft and knitting has been helped by technology. I have been talking with Maria Buszek on the subject and she recommended a couple fiber artists that use technology in their designs. Cat Mazza and Lisa Anne Auerbach have some pretty cool stuff.

Also, after talking with Bryan Leister about things too, he suggested I look into ways that knitting could be compared with things such as loops of code (like the loops that make up knitted stitches) or binary (1s and 0s vs. knit and purl stitches).

I'm still having issues thinking of how I can turn any of this into a great thesis question and the form it will take when it's done.

A History of Knitting

While I am still trying to narrow down my critical question, I found some quick reads online about the history of knitting. I have found several books at the Auraria Library as well as my public library.

History 101

History of Knitting

I may want to start looking more into the history of knitting in different regions such as Scandanavia and Ireland, where families identified themselves by the patterns on their sweaters.