Knitting adventures: Sweater Dress; Part 2

With several attempts at knitting sleeves under my belt, I was able to resolve the sizing and add the eyelets and yellow details.  My amazing model, Agustina, was really into the tactile quality that comes along with wearing little knitted puffs on your arms.  The dress turned out super thick and comfy, definitely a perfect cold-weather dress.  

My inspiration for this piece was drawn from visuals of The Neon Museum in Las Vegas. The museum site hosts over a 100 relics of Vegas history, both donated and found dating back to the 30's. I'm keeping my eye out for cheap flights to Vegas, as this is now high on my list of places to see.  I think my vintage aesthetic shows through in this piece, as I so much adore being able to experience a connection to history and the collections that we have assembled from it.

Be sure to check out Cheri Lucas's Neon Boneyard Photos  They are amazing and make you feel like you are really there!

Textiles Graduate Student Exhibition

A shot taken of the pieces of work completed during first semester at RISD. See other work here: Textiles Graduate Student Exhibition

Knitting adventures: Sweater Dress

Hello, lovely, new, sparkly knitting machine.   Machine knitting was big in the 70's and 80's and then companies stopped production.  Now, to be able to affordably come by this highly coveted piece of equipment, with all the parts, is hard!  These things have been known to show up under old ladies beds, at yard sales, on ebay for outrageous prices, and sometimes locally on craigslist.   I saw this posted on craigslist a few weeks before my knitting class at RISD had started and patiently waited until I knew anything at all about machine knitting to contact the posting.  So basically, I waited until the end of the first day when I immediately decided that I loved it! (this was after unsuccessfully knitting anything on the machine too).  My mother referred to this purchase at "impulsive."  Well maybe, but I see it as an investment; next Christmas, everyone will be getting scarves!

Attempts at knitting sleeves for my sweater dress: too small, too big, just right, but too short.  Fourth times the charm?  Having no real knowledge of pattern drafting or apparel work, this project has proven to be really hard.  It's amazing how tedious it is to count out stitches and rows to get the exact measurements.  Everyone says you'll use math for the rest of your life; well, thanks to Hanks Dairy Bar for improving my mental math skills and thanks to my Mac's dashboard calculator for helping me with the ones I get stuck on.