I'm Back!

What a crazy few weeks I've had!!!

I've finished all of the production knitting except for 3 sweaters that are personal orders. I'll work on those over the next week or two. No stress.

I have literally been knitting every available hour of my day. I've been sleeping about 4 hours a night for 2 weeks. Getting up and knitting all the way up until I had to go to work then if possible knitting at work and then knitting some more when I got home.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHhh!!!!

I've also started working at my new job. It's lovely. I got home at 1:00 last night instead of say 3:00! It's been a lot of work learning the menu and the new digs but I think it's going to be great. Last night was a VERY soft opening for friends of the owner and chef. It went very smoothly. It was nice and civilized. I'm working again tonight. So it should hopefully be more of the same. Someone has already been fired!!!

Double Happiness closes tomorrow night. I worked it out so that I could work the last shift there. It's going to be crazy, I'm sure. It's very strange but I feel no sadness whatsoever. I actually happy to be moving on.

I also had to stop my sewing classes for now. I kept having to cancel and I didn't think it was fair. I'm kind of sad about that but I think I'm ready to go forward and start learning from my mistakes. Now that this insane knitting schedule is finished I can get back to working on my coat.

Well, that's it for now. I have to go downtown and deliver all of the pieces I've knit over the past few weeks. Then off to work.

I'm so happy to be back. There will be photos to come. I promise! I swore off knitting forever about 5 days ago. But now I'm actually thinking about what I want to knit. I'm officially insane. I should go and check myself into the loony bin!

Organic Cotton Cardigan Photo

I love the way this sweater turned out!!!

I'm still really busy. I don't have time to post. I'll hopefully be back next week. I'm spending my days knitting and watching marathon TV and at night I'm working. This is crazy!!

Follow up

I haven't had too much time to work on this but I did manage to go to M&J and pick up some hardware. I'm still deciding on 2 or 3 closures... I'll probably go with 3.





I added some very small buttons on each of the gathered point.






I'm hopefully going to be finished with this insanely busy knitting schedule in the next 2 weeks. I have to be, actually. So I'll be working at night and knitting all day. If I'm absent from here that's why!

A sleeve

The first sleeve is finished. I like it. I didn't write anything down so I hope I can recreate it. It's short so I shouldn't have too much of a problem. I did some very unconventional techniques but I think it worked. I'm kind of loving how this sweater is transforming.









I also sewed down the collar.




And I cinched in the ribbing. Obviously there hasn't been any blocking.




I think I need to add some kind of a button band because it's pulling in so much at the center. I'd be ok with some pull but I think this is too much. I'm not sure I'll have time to work on this for a few days but gggrrrrr i want to!

Sewing Class

I have my sewing class today. I haven't had one in about 3 weeks. Maybe longer. Holidays, schedules, etc. I'm looking forward to it only because I want to see what this coat will look like! I'm not sure if you start with the lining or the outside. I bought this gorgeous pink silk shantung at Mood a few weeks back. Maybe I blogged about it. It was $35/yard. I bought 3. Ouch! But it's beautiful. I hope it will look as good as a lining! And you've seen the outside. So hopefully photos to come!

I've started the sleeves for the Givenchy Inspired Cardi. I'm also going to construct some kind of a belt-ish thing around it. Not sure what it will be but I'm thinking about it. I should be making 4 sweaters but am playing a little hooky from that stuff for a few hours. I'll start those later.

That's it for now. It's POURING! It hasn't rained like this in a while. Better not take the subway!!!

From This...

To this



Not too long ago (before I became completely insane with production knitting) I had a mild obsession with this a-line/swing sweater. Well clearly it was just infatuation because it was thown into the not-so-nice corner and left there without another thought. Well not another nice thought. That is until I saw the recent ad for Givenchy. See post from a few days ago. I saw it at night and when I woke up I had to rush over to the not-so-nice corner and rescue the poor ugly duckling sweater. I've pinned it into some sort of shape that I'm loving. In it's next incarnation I would not do any shaping of the ribbing (I was trying to be cute and shape the body only using decreases in the purl sts. Though I succeeded. It's ugly.) Obviously arms are needed and I can't get to them right now but know that I'm thinking about them! Short, long, ribbed, st.st. HMMMMMMMM?

Weekly Recap

I don't think I ever posted a photo of the asymmetrical cardigan...Here it is. I can't wait to get the print from the photo shoot.




I know the ends are not woven in. They aren't supposed to be!




I've been knitting some hats. None of these are "finished" but the bulk of the knitting is done on them. I just have to weave in ends. I have 16 and half of 2 others to go. Not bad. I can make a hat in a pretty short amount of time. These don't seem to kill me like the sweaters did. Speaking of sweaters I have 6 cowls and 1 garter sweater to go.




I picked up a copy of Knit.1...I know I swiped the photos from the knit.1 site before but here they are for real...



This is what it looked like when I had it on my dress form...



And the hoodie from the magazine...


On my dress form...

Last Friday I had training at my new job. It was so much fun! We were learning wines so we ended up tasting about 6 wines....SO good! I didn't realize I was supposed to spit it out after each taste! hahahaha. I had to go to work and I was a little tipsy. Fun stuff!

I bought 3 skeins of jade Sapphire Cashmere Silk (2 ply) in Silver Pearl. It is gorgeous. I know that I haven't been buying any yarn lately. I've been trying to work through my stash but this is a show stopper. I sketeched a couple of things the other night and am looking forward to working them up in the very near future..... stay tuned.

Have you seen this?

This is a sweater by Givenchy for Fall/Winter 2007. I don't know if you can get a good look at it but it's AMAZING. I'd leave the epaulets at home but other than that it is really awesome.



I believe it's created by draping a piece of ribbed fabric over a dress form and then sewn in place. Funny thing is that I just happened to have a "sweater" that's been sitting dormant for a few months that was ribbed exactly like this one. I've draped and pinned and now all I need to do is sew and add sleeves. Mine is different in that I decreased to create a tighter fit because it was to be a "swing" sweater. It looked like barf so it was in the reject pile. Now I'm in love all over again. I love it when I'm inspired like this!

I'm in hat mode. I've made about 8 so far. They are great because they go so fast. I think the whole lot is about 28. So I'm on my way. After that I just have 4 more cowls and a garter sweater to make. And then production is complete. Phwew!

I'm off to learn how to bartend.! hahaha. I have training from 11:00 until 5 or 6. I have to go to real work at 5 so...I sure hope I can fit this new place into my schedule without exhausting myself....

Why is it...

That I'm so insanely insecure about knitting for people that I know? Is anyone else like that? I mean my sweater sells for $1, 370.00 at Barneys. Obviously I can knit. Knitting magazines hire me to knit. Hello. I can knit.

So why then do I make myself nuts when someone asks me to knit a simple little hat with a simple little brim? What on earth is wrong with me? I think the yarn choice will be all wrong. The brim won't be what he wants. Will it fit? Will it just get tossed aside? uuuuggghhhhh. I would hate to knit something for someone and have them (behind my back) be like eww this hat blows. I hate it. What should I do? You know what, I'm not going to make it. I have to make about 20 hats for Tom Scott's fall orders. I picked up my original samples yesterday and I'm going to get down to business with those. End of discussion.

While I was at Tom's I saw a polaroid of the Asymmetrical Cardigan for spring. GORGEOUS. AWESOME. I LOVE IT SO MUCH!! I can't wait to show pictures of it. I guess Barney's came by yesterday and really dug the handknits!!! Yay! Although next time around I might be finding a knitter to help me out. Production Sucks!

My training for the new job was pushed back to friday. I'm super happy about that. I had to work last night and now someone wants me to cover thursday also. Which means I'll be working 5 nights in a row. Plus training. Yikes. I got a good night sleep last night so I'm feeling pretty rested. Some of the knitting pressure has been lifted so that helps too.

I've been doing some mad shopping with my niece for the past 3 days. High end/low end and everything in between. We've had so much fun! I bought an awesome bag yesterday. I've been eyeing the Chloe bags but they are super expensive. And since I'm losing my job I was having some thoughts that maybe I should wait on it. Well I ended up buying a bag that I absolutely love:

The Havana. It's made in Brooklyn by a company named Hayden - Harnett and apparently this bag is THE bag in NY right now. It's in In Style, Vogue, Daily Candy....It is so soft. I just love it. Plus it was about 1/3 of the price of the Chloe bag. So Yippee. I can't wait to use it.

More of the Same

I haven't been very bloggy lately. I guess it has come down to crunch time and all waking moments have been spent knitting or working...Both are work...I can see a faint outline of light at the end of the tunnel. I know I should be finished with all of this production stuff but some obstacles appeared late in the game....Fashion Week took priority so I'm back at it this morning - I'm looking for a good movie to distract me from the monotony and to speed it along....

In other news, I've had a house guest for a week. It's been great and not too distracting to my work. I'm the one walking around NYC with the knitting flying off my needles! It's pretty funny. At this point I don't care what I look like as long as I keep knitting!!

I start training on Wednesday at the new work place. I hope I like it. I feel like it's a safety job. If I decide to keep looking at least I have it to fall back on. I like the people so far. I have a good attitude. I get to wear a black wrap dress as a uniform. Nice. (I hope it fits!!)

The current workplace is staying open until the 23rd of Sept. Once we reach that date I guess we'll have better news as to a closing date? A bartender where I currently work applied for a job at the new spot before I did. He didn't get hired. He's mad at me for taking the job. Isn't that a little lame? I couldn't believe he was talking about me behind my back about it. LAME. We had a little pow wow and I set him straight....I hope. I mean I don't want to have any bad feelings after we close. I love everybody that I work with. Bar Drama!

And that is all that's been happening. One of the DJ's asked me to make a super groovy hat for his brother's birthday. I know it would take me exactly one hour to make it but I don't have the time. I hate to say No. But I think I have to. He wants a normal winter hat but with a slopey over the eye brim. Kind of cute. In grey cashmere. I can't. Vogue is going to call me this week with 2 projects....and, and, and....Oh maybe I'll just make it. If I do I'll take a picture.

That's it. I have to find a movie.