KNITTING PETER OR KNITTING NANCY

My latest spool knitter find is

this Knitting Nancy.


Inside the box.

Those who have been a regular follower
of my spoolknitter blog will know that
I have found that this style of spool knitter
below is called a "Strick-Peter"
(1932 - German name - by
J.W. Spear & Sons)
This information is found in the
book - Games We Play -
History of J.W. Spear & Sons.
The English name is Knitting Peter.

Of the 'Spears' company in England, these
are more commonly found.
According to German friends, these
are quite rare to Germany.
While the Knitting Nancy (female form and
called a 'Strickliesel' by 'Spears' Germany)
had continued
to be made in Germany,
the 'Spears' company in England changed it
to the male form and kept the Knitting
Nancy name!


Above shows a major change to the
Knitting Peter.

While the name Knitting Nancy is an
actual name for a toy, it has become the
general term (used by
many in the English speaking
countries) for the spool knitter.

QUESTION FOR WOODTURNERS

This is a special post directed to those expert
woodturners out in blogland.

My learner woodturner hubby recently
had a chance to practise on a friend's lathe.
Using what wood was available,
he cleverly woodturned these
great spoolknitter shapes.
A while later the wood started to split.
Is it still possible to make these into
spoolknitters - using woodfiller and
drilling out the centre core, sanding and
painting - without further splitting?
They were woodturned two weeks ago.

Above from left - wild cherry, stringy bark, wild cherry,
and Tasmanian oak.
Below - close-up of the head of number 1.

Above - showing the split from toe to head of
number 1.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Françoise Dupré

Flowers 2007

Sculptor and installation artist, Françoise Dupré,

born in France and now based in London, is a
recent convert (late 90's) to spool knitting and its potential
in relation to sculpture and installation work.

..............Brief Profile..........
...Born in France, based in London, Françoise Dupré studied in
London Sculpture at Camberwell College of Art and History
and Theory of Modern Art at Chelsea school of Art and Design.
She is a senior lecturer in Fine Art at the University of
Central England (UCE), Birmingham Institute of Art and
Design, Department of Art. She has lectured at Loughborough
University, School of Art & Design, on the Multi-Media Textiles
course and at the Royal College of Art, School of Fashion and Textiles.

Françoise Dupré exhibits widely in the UK and abroad. Her most
recent exhibitions include: Radical Lace and Subversive Knitting Museum of
Arts and Design, New York, USA (international group touring exhibition
2007-08); Knit 2 Together Concepts in Knitting Crafts Council England
(international group touring exhibition 2005-06); parterres Charles Darwin
University Gallery, Darwin, NT, Australia (solo exhibition and
residency 2004); de fil en aiguille...snath nasc Irish Museum of Modern
Art, Dublin, Ireland (residency and exhibition 2003-04).

Her collaborative French (spool) knitting projects incude: joie de faire
(the making of stuff) John Radcliffe Hospital, Oxford, England (second
recipient of the Alexandra Reinhardt Memorial Award and artist
resident in the Feto-Maternal Medicine Department 2006) de fil en
aiguille... snath nasc (2003-04) Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin,
Ireland and Fujaan for Knit 2 Together Concepts in Knitting........

Françoise sent me a photo of her collection of spool
knitters, and includes those that she has made herself.
She writes ...... "My favorite spool is the one I learnt with
in the late 90s - it is a spool I bought in a store in
London. It is made by Indian company PONY who
have sponsored some of my spool knitting projects.
I use my own hand made spools as well as a hand machine
one and I made a very large one for performance piece
in Dublin Irish Museum of Modern Art.
I am also in the New York Museum of Art and Design:
Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting exhibition catalogue.
I have been to Australia twice - once in 2001 exhibiting
artist at the Sydney Sculpture by the sea, then in 2004 as
artist resident at the Charles Darwin University exhibiting
some French knitting floor installation. Would like to go
back to do a French knitting project!!"

The above is taken from Simply Knitting magazine
Issue May 2007 - article on Françoise Dupré.

(Installation art uses sculptural materials and other
media to modify the way a particular space is experienced.
Installation art is not necessarily confined to gallery spaces
and can be any material intervention in everyday public
or private spaces.)


Refer - www.axisweb.org
www.alexandrareinhardt.com
www.paintingsinhospitals.org.uk
Simply Knitting (UK) May 2007
Blog - Haute Nature

Special thanks to Françoise Dupré - it was
a delight to hear from you.

French Knitting 2003

Next Post Soon..............