During this process, I learned a couple factors affect the outcome of my work very heavily. The first being, different balls of the same yarn will vary in thickness and even more so, the same ball of yarn varies in thickness. This led to uneven parts of the sweater and even different sized sleeves of the exact same stitches. Another challenge was how tight/loose I crocheted. This plus the first factor led to sizing being a little off when I tried the sweater on.

After sewing all the pieces together, the sweater kind of fit funny. It needs a steam and adjustments on the body so that I can make and outline to finish it off. I have new appreciation for handmade sweaters, especially the ones my grandparents used to make and also have a better understanding as to why machines were created to manufacture clothing.

In future iterations, I hope to create more consistent stitching with both better yarn and a grasp on my hook. I would like to create a sweater by stitching squares together as a different approach to sizing properly.

I’m currently working on building the back panel up and then the other front panel (folded over chunk on the right). Then I can move onto sleeves and details!

The first being to crochet a sweater for myself. When I was little, my grandma used to make me sweater that I would never wear since I didn’t like the style – how ungrateful. I understand she put lots of time into making those for me and I would love to be able to make my own. My mom also used to make sweaters when she was younger so I think it would be a good and new final project. For the sweater, I would need about 5 large skeins of yarn – wool is expensive so I’m not sure what kind of yarn I should use. I learned how to crochet when I was younger and I prefer it much more over knitting.

Timeline : By Dec 3 – finish front and back panels, Dec 8 – finish sleeves, Dec 10 – finished project (I would probably need those extra two days to finish sewing everything together)

My second idea is to make a canvas tote bag with an embroidered design. I am hesitant towards doing this since I did lots of embroidery for the last project so I’m not sure if would like to accidentally stab myself with needles that much again. I would need to purchase canvas as well as any other thread colors that I’d want to use. We were given white sewing thread which is all i would technically need it terms of fabric. Also maybe a iron patch to seal all the threads.

Timeline: By Dec 1 – cut out all pieces of fabric and sew together what can be done, about halfway through with embroidering my design, Dec 3 – finish majority of embroidery, Dec 8 – completed tote bag

The following photo were my starting elements for the pattern. I left them simple so that I could drag and drop pieces around one another and sort of mismatch leaves and stems.

From there, I created a large number of swatches, mixing color schemes and playing with negative spaces/colors. I love the one in the top middle since it’s very toned down, clean, and simple but I had a random stem in the top left of the patter that really bothered me.

My final pattern is that on the bottom right where I was able to fill in the space to create more of a full, meadow effect rather than a bouquet of flowers. This was using a hex by column repeat that allowed me to get each individual swatch very close together.

I can see this being on a planner in Target which is very niche theme but it really does give me that feeling.

1. Flipping a bunch of clothes I find while thrifting – turning into a new piece, resizing, making a set, etc
2. Crochet a top or knit a sweater
3. Sew a bucket hat or two

I liked the monochromatic sort of look from another textile I had seen which led me to these swatches. There are some areas that did not come out the way I had hoped but I think with some more tweaking and filling, the pattern will come out better.

I found this digital pattern wallpaper where I really like to colors used where the accents pop but are covered by the harder to see bike patterns. As it’s titled “Flower Pedal” which I think is super cute and creative, I enjoyed the contrasts between all the details of the flowers and the wheels/gears of the bike.

I started with the blue eyes which face inwards towards the wearer to demonstrate “blindness” after focusing on technology and my original envision of technology in the eyes by 2030. I really enjoyed embroidering the first eye but it was really difficult to try and get the second one extremely symmetrical.

I then moved onto the trees which I struggled to come up with a design for a while. I went with blackish charred tree trunks and branches that had been burned with 1.25 trees still intact and almost being burnt. I didn’t really know how to portray fire well but liked the idea of mending since it does create that hole through the fabric which I also highlighted on the other side to show that you can’t really just cover something up with technology.

I also did some duality between fire and leaves when doing the sides of the tree side. This continued to the ends of the blindfold where the fire side I burned with a lighter and the leaf side I sewed up for a clean edge.

I overall really enjoyed the freedom in this project. I wanted to ensure I had all the supplies to create what I wanted which I why everything was mainly embroidery and a little bit of sewing, both of which I like a lot. If I was to continue working on this project, I would probably add something to the leftover sides after tying the blindfold on – maybe more fire and leaves.

In terms of technology, it’s become so advanced that we have technology using our eyes rather than screens. Similar to a Black Mirror episode, its like holographic versions of our phones, laptops, and other technology all in the blink of an eye

Advancements and focus in technology has left the Earth helpless and full of waste since no one was truly doing anything about it. Natural disasters only become more extreme and the world has fallen apart beyond no return.

I also think that our space exploration may have reached new planets to inhabit? So humans may have begun living on places besides Earth and maybe met people or creatures on those planets. This seems far fetched for 2030 but I the possibility of it just amazes me.