The Accident --- sweater must go on

sleeve with no shoulder

To the designer that I am creating this sweater for was in a bad car accident the night following our meeting.  I found out a few days later.  She is on crutches and has a neck brace because she fractured her spine.  But she is still designing the rest of her clothing line.  I had our friend take me over to the textiles studio at NCSU were she was working.  She finally got the yarn for the other item/garment Im creating for her.  We pinned the sweater (front and back) to a mannaquin to see how it looked.  The sleeve would fit perfect.  But we ran into yet another dilemma, the remaining pattern piece and yarn that I needed to connect the other sleeve to the sweater (because its a cowl neck) wasnt going to happen.  She realized there was no more of that yarn (and since it was handmade cotton, we couldnt purchase any).  I suggested that we connect it with the grey that we used on the ribbing, but she thought that would throw things off.  So instead, she decided that she wanted me to remove some rows from the sleeve, starting at the top of the shoulder, all the way down to the bicep line.  Oh yea, what fun and difficult this would be. But I managed.  I will hopefully be meeting her this week to sew the sweater together (she finally got the yarn needed to sew it).  Even I am excited beyond words.

Sweater Continued -- Making the front & back

Front of Sweater

So I was given one pattern piece for the front and the back. I found it very funny that (starting at the bottom) the sleeve was wider than the sweater.  Again I had to go with a trial and error type pattern design (that I'm designing to create the sweater she drew).  So every so often I had to take the stitches off of the needles and place it (stretch it out) over the paper pattern to make sure it fit.  Then I did some more equations and problem solving to use the right stitches, increases, decreases, etc.  Starting at the bottom it was pretty square shaped for awhile, until I started getting towards the armholes and neckline.  One side needed to be decreased for the armhole minimally, while the other side had to have dramatic work, because the neckline is a swoop/half cowl.   So I decreased drastically repeatedly on one side and then stop and continue for awhile to make it up to the one shoulder. Luckily I wrote it all down as I went (in my version of pattern writing, since Ive never done one).  And because the back of the sweater is identical, all i had to do was the reverse.  But unlike the sleeves were I could copy the pattern I wrote identically, I had to reverse the pattern I wrote for the back because it was opposite.  Boy was that fun, but I figured it out. Go me! I do rock if I say so myself.

waistband

Eventually the designer had time to meet with me.  And I brought all the pieces with me (2 sleeves w/cuffs and front and back).  She fell in love immediatly.  That gave me a great feeling (I know my knitting is great, but i completely designed this, and somebody else truely adored it).  I brought up the fact that maybe we could add a waistband (like the cuffs).  And she loved the idea.  That brought up a bit of a dilemma because unlike the sleeves, the front and back had an odd number of stitches at the base.  There were 15.  Well you cant make a ribbing with an uneven number.  So as I picked up the stitches at the base of the sweater, I kinda had to pick up (create) an extra stitch.  But once I figured it out and made sure that I picked up the stitches on the right side (so you couldnt see them) it went quickly and I had JUST enough yarn. 

I did come across one dilemma while adding the waistband.  When you castoff (finish your knitting/get to last row) the method used, is tight and doesnt allow for any stretch.  Well, if I expected a model to get this roomy chunky sweater over her bust, I would need some give.  I finally came up with the solution.  Even though I used size 17 needles on the ribbed waistband, when I got to the last row to castoff, I used a size 50 needle (the ones I used for the main sweater).  So it wasnt as tight. Yah me.

Close-up of ribbed waisteband

Friends Taken From Us & The Stupidity Behind It

I got a facebook invite today. I typically don't look at this til the last minute, because I dont go out. But I got this one today that I opened because it started with RIP, and I immediatly thought, oh crap, somebody else I know has died!

Rahem

 

 

Over the past year or so, people around me keep dying, and not of natural causes. December 10, 2007, Rahem "Radio" Still was stabbed while trying to break up a fight at a bus stop one afternoon. He was stabbed multiple times, once in the heart. He died in the hospital, which was on 3 hour lockdown because authorities thought the crime could be gang related due to the location of the murder. Rashon Arturo Martine pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter, and was just sentenced to a maximum of 74 months in prison! The minimum is 54 months. I think a life sentence is in order for taking the life of a 21 year old man. I guess sometimes the justice system just doesnt work the way that we want it to.

 

Derek

On April 26, 2008 a very close high school classmate of mine was murdered. Derek Hodge was 21 years old, when authorities found him shot in the head inside his apartment located not far from NC A&T University where he was a student. For so long police had no leads on his murder, the NC Governor approved a $5000 reward for information leading to an arrest, crimestoppers added $2000 and the family added an additional $3000. A little over a year later, US Marshalls arrested Jaguar Emanuel Wright in Springfield Massachusets. Forensic evidence led to the arrest. There is no sentence as of yet.






In 2009, Whitney Monique Mangum, 21 was struck and drug by a vehicle early one morning after leaving the club. Whitney had been in an arguement/altercation with the occupants of the vehile. When it took off and she was still latched on. It is believed that Whitney dropped from the car, and the car then ran over her. She was picked up by another vehicle and taken to the hospital where she died from injuries during the incident. The driver, Phylicia Olivia Price, 24 was picked up a few miles from the incident. She has been charged with felony hit-and-run, facing a 30 month prison sentence if convicted. The family of Whitney wants Price charged with murder.

Whitney

Danny

March 28, 2010, Daniel Ernesto Barillas was killed in a fatal car accident. He was 34 years old, and left a fiance, and 2 children, along with family. I didnt even hear about his death until months after. From what I have been told, he was driving his beloved Maserati thru Raleigh when the police got behind him and he fled. He was going over 100mph when he crashed. Daniel was a very upstanding man, and the only reason he would have been fleeing is due to driving with no license. He was a loving prancster. His life will be celebrated on his favorite day of the year, April Fools day!

I wrote this awhile ago, and I never got around to posting it, there are more to add by now, but I will come back and either edit this one or do a part two. To all my friends that are partying up stairs, you are gone but never forgotten !

Finishing the Sleeves

Layed out flat

I eventually got more yarn from the girl who drew the sweater. Ill try to sum up things a little more quickly. I finished the sleeve. It got harder towards the finishing because I had to work the decreases in the right shape. But I did it. Go me! And because I wrote it out and the other sleeve is identical, I made the second sleeve so fast.

Folded in Half

So now I wanna focus on the front and back of the sweater but of course I'm out of yarn. So I decide to figure out the ribbed cuffs she wanted. I used a chuncky not so bulky grey yarn that she picked (supposedly it matches the cream/grey pinstrip Oxford that goes underneath). I know how to make something look ribbed. But I had to figure out how to attached the two (sleeve and cuff). The simplest way seemed to be picking up stitches. And almost all basic knitting books I have and online show you how. Ohhhh how those step by step pictures suck. Lol. But I figured it out. ;)

Now that I had picked up all the stitches from the sleeve, I needed to figure out how I wanted the cuff. I tried a few different things and decided on doubling the yarn and using size 15 needles, which made it tighter and not so holey since the main yarn used with size 50 is REALLY thick.

I finally got it like I wanted (writting the pattern down along the way), bonded off. And repeated on the second sleeve.

Now I just have to wait to get more (ALOT more) yarn from her for the front and back.

Close up of the actual cuff

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Current Knitting Project --- part 2

Okay, so I figured out the right amount to cast on (made a note of it, for the other sleeve & for my first written pattern). I was going with a trial and error method but I haven't had a error yet (cross my fingers). I decreased at just the right places (my guessing turned out good). I used a combination of k2tog and ssk. In different ways/orders, sometimes not repeatedly. I layed out what I have so far on the sleeve pattern she cut for me. Issue, I've run out of yarn and I'm about two inches (4 rows) from the bicep line....still have to attempt to correctly and evenly decrease for round shoulder.

I texted the designer and told her I needed more yarn immediately. She said she had class the next day so she could get it to me Wednesday. I hope she gets it to me tomorrow because I still need to finish the sleeve (may be quite difficult) and still do the other sleeve. Not to mention the front and back of the sweater lol. And this is just garmet one lol.

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