I Want My Ear Back

Last Sunday I woke up with labyrinthitis. I'm getting better at compensating for the vertigo, but it would be really nice if my hearing came back sometime before the next term starts.

Seriously, Pi. I have better stuff.

I was trying to break out of my autumnal comfort zone. The fabrics chosen for this collection were all natural fibers and easy care.


Concept board and mini-collection based on an assigned theme.



Concept board with illustrations, technical flats, and material swatches. This was my final project for a digital apparel presentation course.




Final collection for a concept and development class. This project was inspired by my brother's girlfriend.


I'm in a digital print design course right now, so I have lots of prints. This one is meant to be inspired by Lotta Jansdotter.



This started out by making one of those fold-and-cut paper snowflake things. I then had to develop a color story from an image of my choice and design 3 companion prints.



This collection of prints is inspired by Orla Kiely. I'm told my little tree motif looks quite a bit like an alien, but her designs are abstract, so I'm claiming that mine is as well.

There's quite a bit more, including things I'd have to scan in, but I have to go to class now (wheee outsourcing 353 >_<). I'll post the rest when I get back. Also, I apologize for the janky formatting. Blogger wants to hate on my face today, it seems.

I Should Be Sketching

I'm procrastinating instead. On the upside, my Pandora stations are becoming very well-groomed. I'd vow once more to document and post my projects, but we all know how useful such a promise is when there are less than two weeks left in the term.

In Which I Offer Proof that I Have, in Fact, Been Making Things.

BEHOLD! My ridiculously expensive education is actually doing something!


This is from last term. It's a digital rendition of a small art piece I did way back in high school. I think the assignment was something to do with showing depth by using the principles of design.

Also from last term. One of my assignments was to design a logo and matching set of collateral for a fictional business. Please note that my instructor, not I, selected the company name.


This is less impressive unless you've seen my first attempts at fashion figures. I'll scan the whole sorry progression in for you, but it will have to wait until I can bring myself to go back to school. My scanner has taken a turn for the craptacular.

I went from a layout of 3 basic croquis (those alone took me 8 weeks to learn how to draw) to creating a customer profile to designing a line of 10 swimsuits for said customer to creating a stylesheet from the 6 best swimsuit designs. For my final I then had to select one of my designs (or create an entirely different one for that same consumer, but why bother?), draw it in 3 different views on the aforementioned croquis, accessorize it, ink the line drawings and accompanying flats, add a cohesive grounding device, accurately shade and colour the figures, and enlarge the whole shebang onto a nice, clean sheet of bristol board. Mine actually turned out really nicely, despite the fact that it wasn't nearly as colourful as those produced by my classmates. If you're interested, the inspiration for this was an ad I found at the beginning of the term featuring Cate Blanchette in a leather aviator cap.

I got an A on both my final and for the whole class, despite the instructor's first session speech about not expecting to get an A. She also made it very clear that she didn't think hard work was enough to net us a decent grade and that she only gave out As to students who produced work of which she was envious.

This teacher made me cry on 4 separate occasions. However, I miraculously managed to produce work that was to her standards, if not quite up to mine and consistently earn As on my weekly assignments. I'm still not sure how this happened, but I refuse to question it any further.


A print ad I designed as part of my Intro to Apparel Design final project. Basically, my partner and I had to go through the entire pre-production half of the apparel design process, creating a series of presentation boards to illustrate our progress. I could take pictures of all our boards, but, well, they currently reside at school. My partner and I were unsure as to what we would do with them were they to end up at either of our homes, so we left them behind as an example.


Line drawing and finished version of the mini-collection we had to design for the aforementioned large final project. I officially want to produce about 2/3 of that collection, especially the dress. You can't see it at this resolution, but that's a faux wrap dress in bias-cut pinstripe suiting, fully lined in cranberry cotton/silk sateen. It also has a line of tiny black shank buttons running from the top of the faux wrap to the hem. It is completely machine-washable. I want it.

Speaking of wanting my designs, this is becoming something of a problem. I'm finding that each week I design, at the very least, one thing that I desperately want to fabricate. This is fantastic in the sense that I apparently never run out of salable design ideas, but completely frustrating in that I don't have the time or depth of skill required to make most of them. One of my goals for this month-long break is to create at least one or two of my designs, if only to supplement my own wardrobe, but necessity dictates that they be simpler than the ones I like most. When I have a chance to totally exploit the scanner at school I'll be sure to scan in large portions of my sketchbook so you can see exactly which ones I'm referring to.

Speaking of supplementing my wardrobe (I am segue master), I've actually made a few things that served dual purposes of fulfilling apparel construction project requirements and beefing up my wardrobe. My favourite by far is a pair of cropped trousers that are, well, I'll take a picture of them for you, along with my pajama pants, skirt, and apron. The apron I never actually use, but it's still awesome. I gave it lapels. ^_^

I've been knitting a little bit too, so again: I'll take pictures. I think this was enough of an image dose for the time being, but you have my solemn vow that one of my other summer break goals is to upload images of all the relevant work I've done since I got back into school.

In Which I Point Out That I Made Something Pink Several Months Ago

For my small sister.







For x-mas. I am master of punctual posting.

In Which I Demonstrate the Fallacy of Being Photogenic

I frequently receive compliments on my appearance. I'm not feeling self-centered enough to talk about this too much today, but take my word for it that I'm attractive. Now, the really interesting thing here is that I'm simultaneously very photogenic



and totally hideous



on camera. Which one of those descriptions applies to any given shot of me depends almost entirely on the photographer. For example, that first one was taken by my best friend, whereas the second one was taken by my mother, the ultimate grand master of bad pictures. Of me. Seriously, if you don't believe me:







Yeah. Like that. The really sick thing is that she only takes terrible pictures of me. That first one (with the spa hair) is so comparatively good that she had it printed and framed. And placed on the fireplace mantle. >_<

let us never speak of this again. In fact, skip right to the next most recent entry, which features both something I have made and someone who is far more consistently photogenic than I.

In which I fail to provide you with more pictures of my recent work

I have some pictures from the last couple of months, however. They were languishing on my camera, so I pulled them off and spiffed them up a teensy bit.





My hair is very short now, if you didn't already know. This was in a very mediocre Mexican restaurant in the lobby of the DoubleTree hotel. What was I doing in this hotel a few miles from my house? Guess.





My sister was either cold or hiding from the aggressive cart collector at Vons. All I can definitively remember is both of us laughing like idiots.





This is only hilarious if you watch Harvey Birdman semi-religiously.







In any other city I wouldn't care.





Providence led me to the greatest desserts ever. This restaurant is so fantastic, in fact, that their first words to you when you walk through the door are "Are you here for dinner or dessert?"






We all know which one I chose.

This is Real School

Whatever that means. Actually, it means that the 15 credits I'm taking this term are more strenuous than the 17 credits, full-time job, and part-time job I balanced last term at that friendly little community college. These courses only meet once a week, but good lord are they intense. I'm terribly relieved that one was only an online (read: half-term) class that ended last Wednesday. I think I have time now to add a part-time job into my mix. Frankly, I need it. My savings are slowly trickling away, and being a student doesn't pay the bills.

I've been producing a good deal of stuff over the past few months, but I only have one piece with me, so it's the only one you get today.



More later when I've had time to take pictures. I need to drag my portfolio into the lighting studio here, maybe.

An End, a Beginning

I'm officially down to my last two final essays. Well, three. Okay, four if you include the math project, which is essentially an essay with graphs. There's also the self-evaluation for my final art project (which I have yet to complete) so that's more like five. Finals are technically over with, or at least that's the impression I got from the half-assed eight question math "final" and series of "goodbye, good luck" well-wishes between Friday and today. If I choose to be lazy about this, I am guaranteed A grades in all of my classes, but my personal standards scream at me to finish everything regardless.

The real point here is not the things I have yet to finish: the point is that in just a few days I'll be moving to Portland for school and once I'm there, oh the things you'll see if I remember to update this thing on a regular basis with pictures and whatnot. I'd even show you some pictures of what I've accomplished this term but alas! They are submitted for grading at the moment. Until then, have a random picture from my digicam.

Time for Candor

One of the things I like most about myself is the fact that I'm honest at all times. This can sometimes get me into trouble, usually because people apparently don't want to hear the truth when they ask for it, but in the overall scheme of things it has served me well and simplified my life greatly. Without having to remember what I've said to which people I'm spared the worry of slipping up.

Unfortunately, it would seem that I've been less than honest with myself about my UFOs recently. Remember those two black, blocking sweaters? Well, after they had dried thoroughly I tried them both on to see what I had to work with. The lace one immediately went to the frog pond, being both too short and ridiculously boxy (also, the fucking armholes were too tight again), but the embellished v-neck went into my project basket with a mental note to restitch the armholes a bit looser and go ahead with the lace trims.

Eight hours and one very long, boring shift at work later, I've had plenty of time to let that almost-finished sweater simmer in the back of my brain and sometime today I realized that, honestly, I will not wear that sweater if I go ahead and finish it in its current state. The armholes are too short (MOTHERF&#%) and the deep v-neck that looked so structured and secretary-hot on the b-cup model is so deep that it slips open and towards my armholes, thanks to my irritatingly large d-cups. For future reference, v-necks that end near my navel and whose edges are supposed to lay across my nipples are a bad idea.

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I'm still working on my third sweater-for-me, although the realization that I'm going to have to rip out the neckband, shoulder seams, and cap shaping of the finished sleeve in order to make the fucking armholes taller is less than encouraging. I'm not too concerned with finishing any of my socks-in-progress (all........er......6 pairs of them) at the moment, which leaves three projects on my WIP list.

The first, a zip-apart colourblock pullover for Sarreyn, needs just one more zipper to be complete, but we figured out that he'd be more likely to wear it with the pieces joined directly to each other, rather than with all the zippers in place. I'm not up to ripping out tons of teeny black machine-stitched seams any time soon, so that's just going to stay where it is for now. The second, Colchique (for me), is waiting on me to translate the sleeves from French and then rewrite the pattern for them so that they can be knit from the shoulder downward. This is stalled for much the same reason as the first WIP. When I'm working six days a week the last thing I want to do is come home and do something I dislike even at the best of times.

The third, also for Sarreyn, is the irregular rib raglan from Loop-d-Loop. It's actually completely knit, but when he tried it on for a final fitting it was discovered that his upper arms had, well, gotten bigger. To get it to the point where he can wear it comfortably I have to rip out the collar, undo the underarm seams, rip back both sleeves to about the elbow, reknit them with added increases, and then reknit the ridiculously tall collar. And attach a toggle. This sounds much more feasible to me than with of the other WIPs, but I just don't feel like doing it right now. Chalk it up to laziness, but what I really want to do is knit one of the fantastically constructed patterns from the Domiknitrix's new book. I swatched for the Little Red Riding Hoodie, with limited success, but also have my eye on about five other patterns. If it so happens that I can't make anything without going yarn shopping (it's a distinct possibility. much of her stuff is in bulky weight.) I have a backup plan that involves the VK Winter 2006.

Note to Self:

Always, always, ALWAYS make the armholes of sweaters taller than you think they need to be. >_<

Proof of Progress

Albeit very poorly shot proof.





That first one is based on the Lace Pullover (Pattern #1) from VK Winter 2006, but I'm sort of making it up as I go, so it could turn out to be a disaster. The second one is my fresh-out-of-surgery-and-a-bath Embellished V-Neck. The fit was a little off when I tried it on pre-blocking, so hopefully once it's dry it'll be more like I want it to be. That contrast thread you see in there is a guideline for the placement of the lace trims that I may end up omitting altogether.


We'll come back to those later. In the meantime, I have another past FO for you.



These are my first foray into the world of fair isle, and, while they do have some errors, I'm very pleased with how they turned out.



One of the most notable errors is that when I did a tubular cast-on I accidentally cast on 2 extra stitches. I of course didn't realize this until I started the first set of those neat little diamonds, at which point I had to stop for a few hours and agonizingly plot out a new motif to run down the front of the leg. It's still diamonds, and therefore not glaringly obvious, but it's different enough to stand out at a second glance. I call that creative license, damnit.



Pattern - Arched Shaped Stockings from VK Fall 2006 (do you get the feeling that I loved this particular issue?)

Yarn Source - Cervinia Calzetteria purchased at a ridiculously low price from smileysyarns.com. I used almost 2 skeins each of Black and Naples, worked up on size 3 bamboo dpns.

Modifications - Well, other than my......er......creative license usage with the colourwork, I think I lengthened these a bit, used a tubular cast-on with elastic threaded through it instead of plain ribbing, and did some sort of creative license thing with the first repeat of the arch shaping.

Thoughts - I'm pleased with these in so many ways. They're a successful first fair isle, first tubular cast-on, and first pair of knee socks, they're incredibly squishy and warm, and they're machine washable. I can't even express how much the thought of handwash-only socks annoys me. Any other knit item, sure, but socks? Hell no. Those things get washed every time I wear them, and I'll be damned if they're going to get special treatment on every laundry day.

Bloody Hindsight

I've sort of forgotten what I finished after those four disasters, so instead of past FO reports you get current knitting progress. I'm not going to show you all of my WIPs, because that's a level of embarassment I'm saving for another entry, but you can see my current favourite project.



This is the Embellished V-Neck from VK Fall 2006. I've loved this pattern from first sight, as is usually the case with me, but was so busy with holiday gifts at the time that all I got to do was buy yarn for it (Wool-Ease. Nothing special.) and make a little swatch. A couple of weeks ago I fetl the urge to start it, so I quickly freed my US 7 circ from the potentially disastrous lace v-neck I'm also not quite done with and read through the pattern. It was somewhere around the sleeve instructions that I noticed the lack of a hem anywhere in the pattern. The entire thing is knit in St st from the cast-on upwards, with nothing whatsoever standing between the edge and a massive amount of curling. Looking at the pattern picture confirmed it, but luckily for me I had recently read something about tubular hems. An hour later, I had knit 12 St st rows with a purled turning ridge in their midst, folded up the bottom half of the hem, and k2togethered across the whole thing. Lovely!

It was only much later, after I'd done all four hems and started seaming things together, that I read something else about tubular hems. Apparently the rows of St st before the turning ridge are supposed to be worked with a smaller needle, and I immediately understood why.



You see how my hem flips up like that? If I'd knit the first six rows with a US5 instead of a US7 the slightly greater tension of the fabric would have held the hem flat, but as it stands now, the only way that's going to get fixed is if I painstakingly snip and unravel, stitch by stitch, my entire lovely hem and reknit it. Fortunately, because the portion I have to reknit won't be seen, I can knit it down from the turning ridge and it won't matter that it's obviously going the wrong way. Unfortunately, I am very, very bad at tacking down hems and am all sorts of worried that I'm going to end up with something inflexible and ugly in place of my almost-perfect expanse of cleverly joined stockinette.

Learning the Hardest Way

First of all, I think it's time for another FO report.



I'm sure everyone is familiar with this pattern by now. After all, Cookie A. does for socks what Eunny Jang does for, well, everything. Her patterns are simultaneously functional and cleverly beautiful, and the instructions are written so well that even someone who is knitting socks for the first time (me) can follow them.





Surprisingly, once I got halfway through the first pattern repeat, I could do the rest without even consulting the chart. The stitch pattern for these is one that truly looks a lot more difficult than it is.



Pattern - Pomatomus, available on knitty.
Yarn - Silja sock yarn, 2.5 skeins
Modifications - I made these taller than specified and used the 2 socks on one circ method, but wasn't comfortable with modifying my first pair of socks too much.
Thoughts - I used this same yarn to knit my first pair of gloves, but when I tossed them in the washing machine without thinking about it they came out completely destroyed. In hindsight, I would have made these out of a machine washable wool, because damnit, I don't really have time to handwash my socks. It is precisely for this reason that I have yet to wear these.

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Have you ever come across a pattern and been completely and suddenly smitten with it?







Somewhere in the back of your brain a small voice tells you that it's a bad idea, even while you merrily go about the process of yarn selection and sizing math and swatching, even when you try it on halfway through knitting and think to yourself that it's going well.















It's only when you've completely finished it, blocked it, and stroked it in anticipation that you try it on again and realize with a sudden looming sense of horror that you should have never knit it because it looks horrendous on you.

Have you ever done that FOUR FUCKING TIMES IN A ROW?

Apparently, somewhere in the midst of knitting Butterfly, Butterfly, and Butterfly, I got the idea that knit camisoles would be good on me. It has now been made painfully clear to me that Butterfly, being a laceweight cobweb of a thing, is an exception to the rule. Knit camisoles are a very, very bad idea for me. I love the details of these, the construction, the yarn, everything except the way they look on me. The ballet tee at least I will definitely reknit, for it is comfortable and I love that it's just one continuous spiral, but the other three have taken up permanent residence in the frog pond. Some things were apparently just never meant to be, but at least I've learned my lesson.