“i just find it hard to believe that you’re spending all this time knitting”

The above quote was said to my friend by her suspicious boyfriend.  It’s extremely humorous to me because one should find it hard to believe, because one shouldn’t be spending so much time knitting.  It’s simply not natural.

Currently I am starting to knit my first look’s motorcycle jacket.  It’s Jade Green, and has sewn-in clear vinyl inserts.  Hard to wrap your head around that, but you’ll see!  So the 15 pieces of my jacket are knit in an all-needle technique (which means it’s knit on both beds… which means it’s a double knit… which means it’s not Jersey.  Sorry, just trying to avoid confusing knitwear jargon!), called a Milano Stitch.  I’ve decided to make each piece fully-fashioned (not cut-and-sew).  Initially, I was informed that while this would be time-consuming and would require a lot of patience, it was possible.  Yesterday I was informed that this was not the case. After I had already done allll of my knitting plans.  Wahoo!  I was told that I should just cut-and-sew the whole thing but I refused, knowing that it would not look nearly as beautiful as if I fashioned each piece to be the exact right size (ew! Merrowed/serged edges!).  With a lot of thought and planning with Professor Ames (hey, Ames!  Thanks for reading the blog!), I realized that I simply had to look at each piece alone and conquer each edge depending on it’s own needs (let’s personify our garments from now on), even if it meant knitting some pieces from bottom to top.  Success!  I’ve done a few practice runs, and only had to make minor adjustments!

knit down is longer than pattern = disappointment.

knitdown is longer than pattern = disappointment pt II.

First and second practice knit downs – this is the type of yarn I am using but not the right colour as I want to save as much yarn as I can so that I don’t run out!

pattern piece = knitted piece = sigh of relief.

perfect knit!

knitting plan for side-panel.

Here’s an example of one-of-eight different knitting plans/graphs that I’ve created and will have to follow!

knitting graph close-up.

tubular finished edge.

This is one technique I’ve decided to use in response to not being able to shape the piece.  I will have to cut and sew this edge and then bind it with a self-tubular.

possible bodysuit fabric.

This was my first mock-up of my Cotton Inc. garment.  The fabric would be for a body suit with the bottom being 100% Cotton and the top being 50% Cotton and 50% Angora.  My professor suggested that I not use the angora but opt for a wool of some sort because the angora is so clearly not cotton because of it’s furriness.

Cotton Inc. skirt fabric.

This yarn I am for certain using for my skirt portion of the Cotton Inc. garment, but the stitch still needs to be tweaked a bit.

*Apologies if my bedspread causes any sort of confusion!

Tags: Cotton Inc., finished edge, full fashion, knitting plan, Knitwear

Category: Dani, Knitwear