Dopamine Fiend

What a Body

like i said dolce and gabbana might get mad if tourists are able to get this at super low discount prices.

here is the inside, with steeks:

and the outside:

and here i am trying it on:

its kind of on the tight side.. good thing i didnt subtract inches for stretching or else it wouldnt have fit! also, i'm always self-conscious in things ive knitted.. much more so than in anything from stores, but i wont make any predictions on wearability until its done! im excited to start the sleeves!

A Fair Start

i was a machine this weekend! i requested the whole thing off from work, which was super wonderful, and it was homecoming, which was fun, but most of all, the knitting!! the sweater is all the way into about an inch of fair isle on the body:

the fair isle part is hard to see because it curls over so much, but you can tell its there! i dont really like the first square too much either but, i can fix it later if i have to. so far, the fit is fine, but steeks start soon!

also, ive gone about two months without a tv. this was also remedied this weekend, which has significantly promoted vegetable knit time. yesterday, tlc had a what not to wear marathon... so good!

oh! and since im making a dolce and gabbana, i will make a comment on some D&G shoes i saw today. this dude was walking around in the chemistry building, dressed the same as any other college scrub.. fully decked out in sweats. but his feet! his gray sweat pants were tucked into these D&G snakeskin looking wrestling boots. his money for expensive shoes obviously stems from a lack of friends to spend money on, which in turn must contribute to his god-awful sense of style. i wish i had a picture. it was way bad.

Second Swatch

here is the second swatch:

if you look at the edges of the picture, you can see four dots.. those are holes from the tacks i used for the first swatch picture, so that should give an indication of how much smaller the second chart is. i used size 3 needles though because my new 2's arent here yet.

however, despite a lack of new needles, i started up the sweater on the round that my sister gave me. hooray for casting on! here are all of the *almost* three inches i've knitted so far:

Blue

so, my swatch helped me determine that my first chart would result in a huge sweater pattern. also, i dont really like how the horizontal flowers turned out.
(those are flowers?) <-- thats what i mean!

anyways, i made a new, slightly smaller chart. its seriously half the size of the first one. i made some modifications, the only thing i dont like about the new chart is that the interconnecting boxes on the lower right hand side are more like interconnecting rhombuses (rhombi?). talk about words i haven't heard since geometry!

also, i ordered some size two needles. telemark says to use 3 or 4s, but i think 2s will be better. the tighter stitches equal not only a warmer sweater, but maybe also less exposure of purly bumps when the inside out pattern is showing. has anyone ever paid attention to the inside of their fair isle? if so, let me know how you feel about this theory.

my sister (who, diana if you are reading this, people miss you, and they are even resorting to reading my blog in hopes that we share similarities.. but alas, i don't knit socks.) gave me a pair of size 2's a long time ago, and i'll try to knit a swatch with them, but they are mean needles!! but for you, blog readers, i will try! :)

maybe within a week or so, there will even be sweater starting!

Swatches

here is my first swatch for the D&G sweater:

i think i need to be more systematic with how i switch yarns so that when the inside is outside for everyone to see, it looks more even.
i'm using knit picks telemark yarn in dark navy and snow leopard. i like the colors together, but the yarn is kind of thick. i might adjust my chart to make all the super fat lines thinner by a couple of boxes, because otherwise i think the design will be HUGE instead of tiny and complicated. i made th argyle vest with palette from knit picks, which i super liked, but palette doesnt really have the colors i would want, i.e. navy blue. i will give telemark a chance though! worst case scenario.. i will just end up with two sweaters, one for the A team, and one for the B team.

anyways, i think thats enough swatch talk.

1/4!

maybe everyone can say a little prayer for my orange marker, who was worked to death today.

i'm noticing a few things that might get changed, but other than that, the basic chart is made! it can be flipped horizontally or vertically or both to make everything.

now all i need is my yarn!

Dolce & Gabbana, Watch Out!

so, pretty much, i'm going to try to become an amazing knock-off creater this semester. i wanted to make a crazy ski sweater with super small yarn because i don't really have homework (life without homeowrk sure is boring!) and it has the potential of being pretty awesome. however, my thoughts of a ski sweater were slightly modified a couple of weeks ago while i was browsing through an issue of details. i was checking out all the knits that the models were wearing, and bam! there it was.

so, at first glace, you might say.. ooh what a crazy complicated design that guy is wearing. but! it gets better. all the fair isle is inside out. inside out! and it looks awesome.

after countless hours of oozing over the sweater and thinking of yarn prospects and kind of being lazy by not printing off any graph paper (hey, free beers can get in the way of productivity), today i started charting my rendition of the sweater. also, knitting graph paper is crazy hard to find!

so far, so good, right? if people are interesting in starting a d&g independent knock-off movement, just give me a heads up, and i'll try to make an official chart once i have the whole thing worked out. however, lets just not get sued by selling sweaters to tourists.
sorry i dont have any knits to show for all this lack of posting trend. i did order navy and light gray yarn for this though, and it should be here by the end fo the week. whoot! until then, i'll just chart my heart out.

She Lives!

ok, so i gave up knitting for a couple of months because i have to take the mcat! its tomorrow, actually. however, i started again this week. while in dire need of a study break, i think i found the hat i've been looking for! i got the idea from brookyln tweed (go figure). while i'm not into murses, i did think the basketweave stitch was pretty awesome looking. so, i made a hat from it. and i made a moose. its a very homemade moose, but at least it isnt the mcat or anything related to the mcat!
so, i promise i will post again starting soon! immediately following the mcat is a celebration i'd like to call beer week, so, i can't really guarantee any quality knitting during my upcoming state of inebriation.

ps all this studying has left me less-than fabulous looking, and consequently, my favorite hat model has come to the rescue

Louie Blue Raspberry

ok, so i like herringbone. even though it has to be seamed for a hat, its just a little seam. this one is manos aqua, and is the same color as blue popsicle, which is delicious for summer knitting. erg, i dont have much to say.... the picture is blurry, but eh, i'll get by.

Volcano

i'm on the quest to make the perfect hat. so far, i have made three this summer. one, i didn't post because its just stockinette all the way through and kind of boring. next, i did an entrelac hat, which needs to be adjusted for about ten minutes until i can smooth out the poofness that wants to turn me into a mario bros mushroom man. today! after many failed attempts, i did a herringbone hat with a vertical stripe. this one, i like. there is a catch though.. after many trials and frustrations, i realized i was unable to herringbone in a round, and so i gave up the battle and accepted that i would have a crappy seam running all the way up the hat. if i had patience for seaming, this probably wouldnt be a problem or even noticable, but everyone has their flaws, right? one of mine is bad seams. it could be worse.

the hat is super long because its meant for a guy, and not for me!

specs:
yarn: brown manos and crazy red harrisville highland
needle: us size 9
time: one day
i used less than a skein of each yarn

Entrelac Hat

i am just on a role now! you would not believe how necessary it is for me to knit when i dont have yarn for a planned project and when i have million other non-knitting things to do. i'm planning on making an entrlac hat for one of my firends, but i havent gotten the yarn yet, and i like entrelac so much! this took one day! whoot. i used some manos i had lying around that was once destined to be an unfinished scarf. the colors are light tan and cotton candy pink (i dont really know their official names). i used size ten circs, and it went way fast. also, i didnt very much today besides knit, so that kind of helps too. yay for summer.

Complete!

my zippy is done! i think it would be better if i had used smaller needles, mainly because when the ribs stretch, whatever shirt i have on is visible. eh, life goes on. all in all, im pretty pleased with this project! all i have left ot do is fold the sweater up and store it for fall!

i was just thinking that someone should make veggie chorizo. i never even heard of chorizo until i was way beyond the depths of eating meats, and you know, i'd like to try some fake meat product that has the same spices. maybe i will write tofurkey a letter. hey, im hungry, but i just spent my money on clothes. *sigh*

back to knitting.. i really could have finished this project a lot faster than i did. but instead, ive been going out a lot, and working more than i need to and doing things like jumping off of rope swings into the river while fully aware that lonely sweater pieces were lingering at home. also, i fell asleep a bunch of times on the sleeves. this project wasn't too boring.. the cables got pretty redundant, but that always happens. i just stay out too late and work too early and drink too many beers. my friends will say i don't drink enough; just ignore them.

next in line... i want to make a houndstooth scarf (which will inevitably end up being a houndstooth hankerchief since i have a zero tolerance policy for six feet of anything). maybe it will be a skinny scarf.

enough garble.. here are the pics:

as you can see the zipper is kind of lumpy, and its pretty obvious i've got a white shirt on, but hey, thats character! sorry ofr the fuzziness, but my camera is old and can't see clearly anymore.

Birth of a Zippy

i will just be honest and admit that i am copying brookylntweed. but its such a good idea. and although i have been reminded that its the beginning of summer when people catch me knitting, i'll be the bee's knees in the fall! ha. here's the back panel:

i'm using peace fleece in sheplova mushroom. its so pretty. today though, i packed a pear in the same bag as the yarn and found that i do not enjoy eating fleecey fruit. im knitting on size 8s, and i reduced the pattern by a ton and am making the zippy fitted. right now, im working on the front pieces at the same time. pretty exciting!

Arglye Vest, Take Two

so, i knitted eunny's sweater vest twice now! this second time however, is *much, much* better! it actually fts.. such a good concept! instead of following the pattern, i just measured myself and a swatch and had some fun with a few proportions. well, since i never want to knit another arglye for quite some time, i think instead of talking about them, i'll just post pictures because those are more interesting.

and, the comparison:
(the new one is the short one, like me)

Study Break

the only thing i ever knitted for a long time was monsters. in the shape of the letter A. they evolved in degrees of fuzziness, and types of monsters, with the new favorite being an abominable snowman. maybe i will make one of each kind soon, and put them up on display. anyways, not that any of this is at all relevant because i have no photographic history to making things interesting, i made this monster this week in lieu of studying:

he's sitting in that picture, not that its obvious or anything.

anyways, i guess i should go study for finals... 5 days til summer! :)