The making of the background. :: Bluebeard.

One of our briefs is to create a set. For this set, or the 'interior' of the room, I really wanted some tapestry/wallpaper type wall. And I've been dying to incorporate some of my knitting skills.
I drew this partly from memory & partly from the drawings I did at the V&A. I was struck my size and complexity of the tapestries there & I wanted to extend that into this set. Creating a surreal environment- like I've been doing with the size and mash-up of images in my collages lately.Converting it into a knit-able pattern: (each marked off block is 1 stitch on left- little ones on right are first attempts, and smaller versions. hard to see)
Planning out the spacing and overall flow of the pattern. (each section of yellow is 30by30 stitches)


Making the right wool!
I wanted to background to be a changing shade of blue without being stripes. I wanted it to be variegated but soft and changing subtly.
This is something I usually do in my head, or by placing cones of wool next to each-other and making snap decisions. But for the sake of documentation- I've taken samples of each one that might be appropriate (far right and bottom right). Then found a pre-made thread that had a similar feel to the one I wanted to create (bottom left, top) Then, using the fibers that are most appropriate, I chose(top left) and did the 'stripe test'(bottom bottom left) to see what the effect might be.

Here are an image of the four colours I was going to ply together with the lighter blue.
I wanted to prepare the yarns in this way, so that as I was knitting- I didn't have to keep thinking about the colour changes- as I was already going to have to be following a strict grid 2 colourwork pattern. Here are some shots of preparing the DK wool:



Ta-da! All ready to be knitted.