Stitch*illo Project

I am thrilled to have been asked to participate in Uppercase Magazine and Todd Pattison's binding collaboration. Last year, as I understand the story, Todd proposed that Uppercase leave a few copies of their new publication on Feed Sacks unbound.  Todd asked friends who are book binders if they would be interested in binding a set anyway they wished. A friend of mine was asked to bind a copy and I loved it! 

This round is called Stitchillo, a book of artistic needlework and embroidery. 

Right up my ally. I have used many different needle work techniques on my artists' books in the past including crochet, knitting, and embroidery. 

The minute I received the book I knew I wanted to reference historical needlework. Working in an archive, I am surrounded by evidence of women's needlework through the last four centuries. 

But how to bind the work? 

When I was young, a pet-peeve was when cover illustrations of books didn't match the actual story. I'm talking chapter books now. Didn't the illustrators read the book before illustrating the covers? Therefore, I was going to read this book first before thinking of any kind of binding. 

As I read about each artist I realized I had much in common with them. Common themes include: maternal passion passed on from mother to daughter, a need for quiet time, the value of slow work, light, cats, and expression through line and stitching. Half way through reading, I knew what I wanted to do. 

I am going to knit the spine of the book using silk endband thread and I couldn't wait to get started. Using size 000000 needles (or something insane like that - the needles were a gift and I don't know exactly what size they are) I cast on 30 stitches. 

And then I went to find my reading glasses. 

Two hours later I had a very satisfactory start. 

Three hours and 9 meters later, I had a nice little swatch to block. For those who don't know, blocking involves wetting the knitting and spanning it to dry. This persuades the thread to settle, become smooth, and realize its actual size. 

 

Swee'Pea monitored for a while until something else caught his interest. 

The final swatch. 

I wish you all could touch it and hold it. It is something special.  

 This is not my first experience knitting something insanely small, but more on that in the next post.