Virginia Burrow design seminar

We are pleased that Virginia Burrow will be joining us in August to share her design process, including working double bed jacquard on a knitting machine, with members of Macknit.

The session will be held at Epping Creative Centre on Saturday 3 August 2024 and run from 10am-4pm. The cost will be $35 members, $50 non-members or $55 for non-members taking up a membership, which will give the reduced rate for upcoming workshops.

Register via this link https://tinyurl.com/Burrow24

For those who have not seen Virginia's work, she has kindly supplied a brief 'bio' and some pictures for us to share. It should be a great session.

"Using a vintage knitting machine, fine merino wool and various digital and dyeing techniques, Virginia pushes creative boundaries to produce wearable art pieces embodying elements of the unique floral landscape surrounding her Blue Mountains home studio.

Through her production of unique machine knitted scarves she has delved into a modern re-take on the concept of the kitsch Australiana of the early 1980s, which ironically is when her machine, one of the earliest computerised domestic knitting machines, was manufactured.

Iconic flora such as flannel flower, waratah, etc, are incorporated into bold designs which are uploaded into the rudimentary computerised console of the machine which determines needle selection during pattern knitting.

While many of Virginia’s pieces are created in just two contrasting colours, others have a third element added through her creative dyeing techniques.

Pre-production dyeing involves knitting a large “blank” and using various dyebaths to produce a colour gradient along its length then re-winding the wool onto a cone before knitting the scarf. This creates an interesting colour shift throughout the finished piece, contrasting with the knitted-in design.

Post-production dyeing produces a completely different effect. The piece is knitted with the design in black and white, then sections dyed and hand-painted according to the placement of the various design elements. The process is not at all precise, however flowers and leaves can be selectively coloured to produce a less abstract, more literal design effect.

Virginia is also creates colourful socks for the Blue Mountains market on her (reproduction) vintage circular sock machines, and produces hand-dyed NSW merino sock wool for hand knitters.

Her products can be found at The Nook Craft Co-op, Leura, and are showcased alongside many of her techniques and processes on Instagram and Facebook "