Welcome back to the KNITSONIK podcast after a very long hiatus! 🙂 This one is nearly TWO HOURS LONG, so I have split it into two sections and you will need TEA. You can use the players below or download the files directly from internet archive here.
This episode of the podcast is dedicated to the amazing Kickstarter backers who enabled me to produce the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook.
Part One
We begin by listening to the wonderful sounds of the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook being printed, after which we travel swiftly to Palmer Park to hear the delightful strains of a steam organ which was playing there in April 2014.
My amazing partner Mark Stanley plays a key role in this podcast in which he makes his jingle-writing debut, and insists that I include the exuberant word INCREDIBLE from General Levy’s classic 1994 Jungle/Drum ‘n Bass Hit of the same name:
Every individual backer who supported the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook is named in the podcast, accompanied by the sound of the book being printed at Williams Press in Berkshire – a sound which you enabled through your support!
If I mispronounce your name, I am sincerely sorry; please correct me in the comments here or in a voicemail left via Skype. You can reach me there as felixford.
We listen in on how some of the photos for the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook were created by my talented brother Fergus Ford and we hear Fergus singing “The Road is Long” in his inimitable way.
We also hear an excerpt of a beautiful recording of a music box made by one of my backers – Ian Rawes – from his wonderful album of field recordings “These are the Good Times“.
In August Ian took voluntary redundancy and is now concentrating on running the London Sound Survey as a full time vocation. This is amazing, I wish Ian all the luck in the world with this mission. I also feel some kinship with it as now – thanks to YOU – KNITSONIK is my full-time mission.
Here’s to artists following their dreams and if you want to buy a copy of Ian’s amazing album you can do so here, and you can find his brilliant website here.
There are updates on the forthcoming album, the KNITSONIK Audible Textures Resource, and a foray into the sonic secrets of my beloved Huntley & Palmers Biscuit tin. Sound sources I am currently exploring in relation to this tin include the bells of St. Giles Church which ring out over the land where the Huntley & Palmers biscuit tin were made; the sound of the old water mill on the Thames at Mapledurham which once supplied Huntley & Palmers with flour for their biscuits; the sounds of bowing and resonating the old biscuit tins with a well-rosined violin bow; and the sound of an old advertising record from the 1920s.
I am currently looking for a record player which does not have an auto-return function in order to be able to play my tiny record, please get in touch if you can help! However until such time as I can play my own H&P record, there is a wondrous video on YouTube which conveys its contents beautifully: Thank you EMG Colonel!
Part One of the podcast ends with a joyous combination of kazoo, accordion and the old Huntley & Palmers advertising record.
Part Two
In this half of the podcast we explore Tom’s “Office Sound Machine” which is an amazing lo-fi way of enjoying the sounds produced by flexing the spacers found in towers of CDRs. If that sounds bewildering, don’t worry – the audio will clear up what I am on about! Thanks Tom of Holland for sending me the Office Sound Machine – what an amazing sound from the everyday source of CDRs.
I mention the Pomegranate swatch-a-long which is taking place this January and February in the KNITSONIK Ravelry group. The idea here is to see how many different imaginations take on a single creative challenge, to participate you need only to create some stranded colourwork based on pomegranates and to share your progress with fellow swatchers in the KNITSONIK group! All the details are here.
I share recordings of my silk worms and news of the commission I worked on over the summer for TATE Modern. The sounds I produced for the commission are all available to hear and download here.
The sounds I share here were all recorded at The Natural Fibre Company and the Whitchurch Silk Mill, or in my living room whilst raising of a colony of silkworms. I also remixed some textile promotional films from the 1950s, found in the amazing Prelinger archives.
Richard Tuttle’s silk and viscose sculpture is on display in the TATE Modern Turbine Hall until April, so there is still plenty of time to get your sounds and go to explore the work with my accompanying soundtrack.
After veering into silk and viscose we return to the Ur textile – WOOL – and the origins of the amazing Shetland Wool used throughout the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook. Lambs from Voe and from the Burland Croft Trail in Trondra contribute their lovely baas to the show. We also hear a story from Oliver Henry of how an exceptional fleece saved a lamb from the slaughter. Thank you to Jamieson & Smith for providing all the yarn for the KNITSONIK Stranded Colourwork Sourcebook.
Then I talk a bit about my WOOL tabard produced by Tall Yarns’n Tales, and share some special recordings from Aunty Hilary’s 90th Birthday party.
After these fantastically SPECIFIC sounds we diverge off into some frog and goat sounds before completing the TURBO THANK-YOUS.
Finally there is a book giveaway associated with this episode of the KNITSONIK podcast; to be in with a chance of winning your own signed copy of the book, simply leave a comment here telling me about a daily inspiration source which you have noticed and which you feel is worthy of creative celebration. I will use a random number-generator to pick a winner in the coming fortnight.
It’s so great to be podcasting again, sorry for my slightly ill-sounding voice and for overusing the word “amazing” in this episode, but that word really does summarise the whole incredible journey from Kickstarter campaign to book that 2014 involved.
Thank you so much,
YOURS IN KNITTING + WOOL + SOUNDS,
and TURBOLOVE FOR 2015 XXXF
My inspiration would be my brown striped tabby cat Jerry. His colors range from a beautiful cream to a very dark brown with wonderful stripes and spots. And, he is a sonic inspiration with the loudest purr I’ve ever heard which he uses often!
I gain inspiration for popular culture, art, fashion, other designers! But since moving to Shetland for work I have found my self influenced more and more buy the stunning scenery and wildlife!
I am new to your podcast, heard about your sourcebook on the Playful Day podcast. My daily inspiration comes from the beautiful views on my daily drive to work, watching the children in our school create, and my husband playing piano every morning while I make breakfast – sets my day off right.
Our house faces west over a long (65 km) narrow deep lake and the skies range from deep grays and storm lighting through intense gold and salmon and turquoise sunsets. I am a lousy photographer but a photo can capture the colors even if it isn’t otherwise a work of art! Just finished collecting wool based on a stormy sunset, now must figure out the color patterns for the jacket!
I always find inspiration on what other people have created before hand, be it literature, design or just the way things are put together. Lately I have been noticing the sea very often and the way its colours change throughout the day — I love blue-ish tones!
Love hearing all the names of your backers read out, and crazed sleep deprived singing (the state of mind in our house we call sleep depraved).
If there is an everyday thing I’d love to translate it would be street trees in the suburb I live in. The lovely tree Red Ironbark, or Eucalyptus Sideroxylon, has deeply fissured dark red brown bark, and silvery grey blue green leaves. Iron Bark trees have a dense, hard timber that resists rot, insect intrusion, and they are also lovely graceful trees.
I also love them because of the poem by A.B Paterson, “The Man from Ironbark”, which has the immortal lines:
“There were three gilded youths along the barber’s wall
their eyes were dull, their heads were flat,
they had no brains at all”
thanks heaps for the new podcast
My daily inspiration is the sky. Living near Lake Michigan, the cloud formations are amazing.
I love to look at other people’s knitting projects and also what is out there in the shops. I may like the shape of one garment and the pattern on another and in my head I have all sorts of projects planned. Sadly only in my head….but one day they may get on paper at least!
Love to have you back on my podcast list
I am constantly inspired by the natural world and the sights I see on my training runs. Recently I’ve been looking at patterns in Nature which are inspiring ideas for embroidery. I’m also spending time photographing ice crystals and the patterns in frozen puddles for a multi-media project. On the knitting front, I’m collecting images of patterns from Nature to create my own Fair Isle cardigan or jumper – coppiced stems, lines of leafless vines, ploughed fields, jewel-bright berries against rusty brown fern fronds, moss & lichen on stone and bark to name but a few. That’s why I’d love your book so I can learn how to translate all the wonderful things I see into something useful!
My beautiful cereal bowl/soupmug design just screams to be knit, Spindrift preferred this time.
Currently working on a weaving project to interpret cherry blossoms, so gorgeous and soon we will see them here in real life. I enjoy your unique podcast and would love a copy of your book.
I’m inspired by my 1950s-style pink couch that I bought a few years ago.
Welcome back!
The daily inspiration to knit is my dog – Purl. She’s a lovely black and white long-haired Jack Russell and I could turn the knit in to a coat for her to wear.