Aran Cable Sweater

I am so in love with machine knitting.  It is such a marvelous thing. I feel that I have so many possibilities at my fingertips and I can't wait to start the next project!

Let's go over the latest, shall we? This was my final project for my Knit Design & Technology class, which, of course, was everything I wanted and more. The class, that is! This sweater was only lovely once it was finished. Sound familiar, anyone? I decided to do an aran cable pattern on the front, with pointelles on top and bottom and a mix of jersey and reverse-jersey (or stockinette, if you prefer).

Well, I was CRAZY to do so. Here is a sweater progression and an explanation:

In machine knitting, the most basic stitch is a jersey stitch. On a single bed machine, doing anything other than jersey requires un-knitting a stitch, and re-knitting it in the reverse with a hook. So, all ribbing, garter rows, and what have you are done like this. By mixing the two, I had a whole lot of reversing on my hands. But on top of that, aran cables are a continuous transfer of stitches, used to create strong diagonal lines. Which means, every two rows, I had to transfer stitches in multiple places to new needles. What I'm getting at is, the front of this took me 26 hours (ish) to knit. Which is a heckuva lot of time for a machine--and about two weekends of mad knitting for a girl with already too much homework to do!

But with some perseverance and some late late nights, I finished a little early, and was able to get some photos at a bandstand in a park with my friend Lindsay. How great are these white walls?!

 

I am really happy with how it turned out. There are a few issues with fit that I will need to address in future sweaters -- armscye, mainly -- but nothing is so major that it will prevent me from wearing this! The yarn is KnitPick's City Tweed, DK weight, which is a luscious blend of merino, alpaca, and Donegal tweed (acrylic). I snagged it during their alpaca sale for an incredible $2.99 a ball, which prices this sweater at.... under $30. !!! However, I overestimated yarn by, like, a lot, and I have seven left-over balls to use up another time.

Look at all those neps! Never going to get over this yarn. Ever. The rest of the sweater is pretty basic--2x2 rib, crew neck, long sleeves, and so on. I had no creative energy after the front!

 

And here, just for fun, are a few of my portfolio pages for the project. I did an extended line, but since these don't have the swatches on them, I only included the pages with real pictures.

The sketches are done on the computer, printed, hand colored with Prismacolor pencils and brush markers, and then scanned back into the computer. The rest of the elements are done on Photoshop.

All the technical aspects. Charts are fun in theory, awful in reality!

You might have noticed that things look different around here! I revamped a little, just to neaten things up. Um, can you tell where I got my inspiration from, now that you've looked at my most recent portfolio pages? I love this font, okay? And the motif! And distressed lettering!

So that's my biggest news. I still have fashion show clothes to post, as well as some things I've been making since school is out for the summer... I start my internship in less than a week, and I've been making business appropriate shirts to wear! Hope to share them soon, we'll see how it goes with pictures.

What are your big summer plans?! I'm just amped to start working in industry, to meet more creative people, and to figure out what I want to do in life. Plus, summer in the city, festivals, and sunshine!

Sweater Design

It's been a crazy semester, and to be honest, I haven't been doing too well. I am working two jobs, and classes are hard--but they're always hard--and getting things together for our fashion show has been a little overwhelming. Or a lot overwhelming. Breakdown-worthy overwhelming. More than anything, I can't wait until I graduate (a grand fourteen months away). Maybe then, this tight ball of stress will no longer be a permanent fixture in my stomach. Maybe I'll be able to fixate more on family than on homework. Maybe I'll be able to sleep. And breathe.

Gosh, this is a depressing post. Anyway. I designed and made a sweater! I'm taking a Knit Design class, and bought a beautiful knitting machine at the beginning of the semester to make sure I could get everything done without going into lab. It's the best part of my week, being able to go to this class. Feels like playing, seriously. I used Knit Pick's Wool of the Andes sport weight yarn in Mink Heather... of course I had to have wool. What can I say, I was raised to be a bit of a fiber snob! Gimme some protein fibers and I'm a happy camper.

Now I'm working on portfolio pages for the project. Above is my first try at a more organic style sweater flat. Can't wait to pull out the pencils and markers and start coloring away!

P.S. Disregard my angst. It's senioritis come early, coupled with an inclination to take far too much on and an inability to say "no". This is how we learn our limits, I guess!

Mercurial Knitwear Collection

 Hello hello from snowy Minnesota! This is a four-piece knitwear collection I made in my cut & sew knits class this semester. The class was pretty easy, for the most part... I've been sewing knits for years (remember those t-shirt reconstructions?), so I got to find new ways to challenge myself by using interfacing, pairing fabrics with different stretch ratios, and inserting all kinds of pockets. It was all kinds of difficult to find proper fabrics--in fact, it was probably the hardest part of the class. Surprise, there's not much to choose from in the middle of nowhere, Wisconsin!

I did find some gems, though; most notably, this beautiful printed rayon/spandex lofty blend. It is a total dream to wear! These are my portfolio pages, following. We do this in pretty much every class,  and it only makes sense to present the work we've done in a concise fashion. Ignore the empty boxes where my fabric swatches go! These are just the electronic version of the pages... in the actual pages, I cut out the squares and under-mount the swatches.

 
 It is very important for these to clearly be technical pages. Thus, we add pattern corrections, fit alterations, sewing call-outs, and pattern development.

I am crazy about this hoodie and these leggings. Honestly, I wear them ALL THE TIME. More than I should. So comfy, so not sorry.

 I think I am going to put this jacket in the fashion show. I'm not positive, because I don't know what else I'm making, but it's a nice piece and I'm not letting myself wear it, just in case. It was my most difficult garment in the class--getting the zipper in and clean finishing it with the bottom band was near-impossible, rather head-ache inducing, and required a lot of finagling.

Aaaaand sequence of operations, pattern manipulation, call out of using the coverstitch machine, a beautiful fancy industrial machine with an air compression system (!) that just whirred like it couldn't be happier. Can you tell I loved it?

It's been an insanely busy year, and next year is shaping up to be even crazier. I'll have two jobs in the spring, classes like Functional Clothing Design & Knit Design Technology (knitting machine, here I come!), and an incredible summer internship coming up. And after that, I begin my senior year of college. How time flies.

Thank you for checking this stuff out. What do you have planned for the holidays? I'm home as usual, with the family, looking forward to staying cozy by the fire, and perhaps venturing out for some cross-country skiing. Whatever you have planned, have a Merry Christmas!

Lately...

Welcome to my life lately. All Illustrator & Photoshop, all the time. I sewed for about three hours yesterday, finishing a project, and now it's back to the computer screen. In-progress portfolio pages for Cut & Sew Knits, and CAD boards.

But life is really good. I think I say this every year, but this is my hardest semester yet. Balancing homework, classes, work, friends, and a boyfriend has been almost overwhelming.... but totally worth it. I've also been making a solid effort to still have fun, something I didn't always do.

For example, playing (and winning) darts on my birthday, and making time to sew a polka-dot birthday dress.

Besides all of this, I feel like real life -- that is, life after college -- is looming right in front of me. I'm getting ready to register for spring classes, and seeing that number of credits needed is both terrifying and exciting. Important interviews, landing an internship, career path discussions, and difficult decisions have been the themes of this fall.

I've been prioritizing my life, nothing new, and sadly, blogging just isn't up there for me right now. I miss it, I have such a backlog of things to post, and I wish I could catch up on everyone's archives for the past, I don't know, forever... but when it comes down to it, I need to focus on school. And what else would I have to do over Christmas break but catch up on the blogosphere? :)

Summertime

This summer has been quite family-oriented for me, and I couldn't be luckier. I don't know if you know this, but I have a really cool family. They're all quite funny (understatement), enthusiastic, and very hardworking. But we play hard, too! Jumping on the instagram train, here is a photographic summary of the last month:

Croquet at Gramma's        -     My aunt's crazy little dog

Excellent campfire                                  -          Reading Shel Silverstein by the fire



I made a chambray shirt!      -           Polka dot pants DIY



We have great sunsets on my lake...          -     And sometimes we see bears swimming.
Follow me: @addie__marie

I have a lot of creations to post, still. I'll try to get on that! On Monday, I'm headed back to school--classes don't start until the 5th, but I am moving into my first apartment (!) and decorating is a priority! 

How's your summer been? Any highlights?