Back to WOOORK!! - 8/22/11

           Ok Monday... we get it.  You can stop now.  Everytime I turn around it's Monday!  I feel like it was just Monday like 7 days ago!  Oh well... I have to apologize for my lack of posting.  My job has kept me extra busy to where I had barely enough time to write anything but emails.  But now I'm back and you're safe.

           So I was on Zappos and I came across the vintage looking men's shoes... and that gots my brain to thinking.  How fly would I look if I revamped my wardrobe to be entirely 1920s?!  Talk about SUPER DUPER WOOORK!  Now I haven't decided if this is something I am actually going to do.  After all it would require A LOT of commitment and a decent amount of money.  Swanky clothes ain't cheap...  but I would look pretty WOOORK!!

I'll take one of each... in 3 every color.

The is NOTHING better than a vintage tux.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Public Enemy Finished Product

            Hey there readers! Sorry about the delay in posting the finished sweater vest, Public Enemy. Being that my camera ran away from home one night it was tough to take pictures of my progress.  I did get myself a new camera though, so all is not lost and life can continue.

Well look what we've got here... well if it isn't a finished sweater vest.

     When I last left you I had seamed up one shoulder in order to knit and apply the ribbing.  First I knitted the armhole ribbing the width of one of the armholes.  After it was finished I transferred the stitches from the ribber onto the knitter bed and hung the armhole onto the machine and crochet cast off the seam. 

     I wanted to try something new for the V-neck.  Usually I knit the neck band in 2 pieces (round necks can be knit in 1 piece if the knitting machine is large enough), 1) one side of the front and the back of the neck and 2) then the other side of the front.  But I figured since I was going to sew the center front as a miter I figured I would just knit it all in one piece and sew the center front like you would a jersey or any other cut and sew knit.

     Here is the inside view of the Neck rib at the bottom of the "V".  The trouble I found is that the bulk of the rib is a bit annoying but when you're wearing it you don't even notice it.  Going forward I don't think I will repeat this technique  I like the 2 piece neck better because if you sew it mitered you can press the seam allowance open and tack it to the seam and it looks much flatter. 

     Here is the outside view of the finished Neck rib.  The bulk of the miter isn't all that noticable.  But as I said before I'll stick to the 2 piece neck rib. 

    After my neck rib was finished I sewed up the other shoulder then repeated what I did for the previous armhole.  All that was left was seaming up the side and weaving in loose ends.  So far I've worn it once and it looked SUPER dapper.  Next time I wear it I will make sure to snap a couple pics for posting.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Quit Frontin'! - Public Enemy

            Ladies and Gentlemen.  I would like to proudly introduce... THE FRONT!  (The crowd goes wild!)  So I whipped up the front of Public Enemy and it ended up being easier then the back for some reason; not sure why.  I blocked that fool and look at it, just look at it!  Marvel in its majesty.  I'll leave you with your thoughts.

More to come...

Philip - In Brooklyn

The Backside - Public Enemy

            Hey there Patterned History folks!  I finished blocking the back of the sweater-vest I am lovingly calling Public Enemy.  It looks awesome and came out perfectly on spec!  I can't wait to knit the front and wear this little sucker out.  I think it'll look amazing with a light colored shirt under it and a nice black sport jacket... maybe I'll bust out a tie for the full affect!!

Philip - In Brooklyn

Public Enemy - Cable Swatch

           So I sat my happy ass down last night and did some cable swatching.  So I ran 3 plys of Navy Merino Wool through the machine at tension dial #6.  Looks pretty rad!  The first couple cables look a bit bucked up but then I figured it out on the last 3 passes.  In addition to using tension #6, I also used the switch on the ribber that makes "softer" purl stitches.  The swatch is incredibly soft and lofty.  I CANNOT wait to knit this sweater-vest and rock it on the daily!  John Dillinger ain't got shit on me!

Philip - In Brooklyn

Always on My Mind - Public Enemy

          My Mind was wondering today so I started sketching a sweater I've been mulling over.  Ever since I knitted Ryan his V-neck Sweater Vest I've been pining for my own.  While watching "Public Enemies" I spied a Navy Blue sweater vest that looked like it had some fancy cabling going on.  It was that instant love at first sight you feel in a fleeting glance just before it disappears.  The man wearing it was a non speaking character so I can't find any pictures of it online.  So I'll just have to go off of initial gut inspiration.  The plan is to do a varigated cable on the front and back of a solild color Navy Sweater Vest.  I think it will be super sophisticated.  The rich Navy color will be very masculine and the cables will add a touch of soft texture.

           I have a few pounds of Navy Merino Wool that I plan on trying out on this classy little number.  It's fairly thin so I'm gonna try running it through the machine 4 plys; probably on tension setting 4 or 5 so it's not too stiff.  Just for shits and giggles I think I'll try 3 plys Navy Merino and 1 ply Black Wool Mohair I have, just to see how it looks.  Certainly more to come on him, Public Enemy.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Seawolf - Finito!

          Hey there P.H. peeps!  So the day has finally come Seawolf is FINISHED!!!  I got distracted by projects that had due dates but that's forgivable.  In order to finish my baby boy all I had to do was set in the sleeves.  So I pinned those mugs in place and used the yarn tails and back stitched them in place stretching slightly after a few stitches to make sure the seam didn't tighten.  Then I wove in all the loose ends and VOILA, a finished sweater!

CHECK IT!

Please forgive my appearance...

I was snowbound indoors that day so cut me some slack.

For your enjoyment I've included the video "Wicked Blood" by the band Seawolf.  

One of my faves.  Enjoy!

Philip - In Brooklyn

Sea Wolf - Ribbed for Everyone's Pleasure!

            The snow fell in record numbers last night.  Almost 20" in some places!  Hopefully this reaches the outside world before we run out of provisions.  I'm sure it will, the internets is crazy magic.  Since I have so much indoor time on my hands I thought this would prove to be the perfect opportunity to share with you the ribbed collar and pocket ribs I hooked up on Seawolf.

           I learned from a video on machine knitting back in the day how to construct and finish a sweater.  The nice lady recommended sewing on shoulder together then rehanging the neck line back on the machine so you can attach and knit the collar rib all at once.  After the Neck rib is finished you can cast off the rib and seam the other shoulder and neck rib all at once.  It's a great idea and works like a charm.  The only thing I find tedious is casting off rib knit so I found another way to work it out.  So my system is to hold the neck line up to the machine to see how many needles I will need to rib.  But instead of hanging the sweater back onto the machine i just knit the rib as you would any other piece of the sweater.  

          When you reach the proper width you desire you just transfer all the needles onto the knitter and then hang the neckline onto the machine (purl side facing you).  Then you crochet cast off and BOOYAH!  

          The ribbing is complete and sewed on all in one simple and easy step.  The only thing you have to keep in mind is that when conventionally knitting you normally have your end stitches on the knitter, but since you are knitting so that you will be sewing right sides together you will need to have your end stitches on the ribber.  On a crew neck or "U" shaped neck line you can knit the neck rib all in one piece.  On other shapes such as V-Necks and Shawl Collars like mine you will need to knit in two pieces and seam at the shoulder.

           For the ribbing on the pockets I did the same thing.  I used the tails to sew the sides to the body in place.  They turned out just right!  Next up... Attaching the sleeves to the body!

Philip - In Brooklyn

Seawolf - Front

            Hello everyone.  Seawolf is coming along nicely.  Finished kitting the front.  I designed the sweater to have a kangaroo pocket on the inside, hidden if you will. I wanted to knit this in a way that had as little sewing as possible.  Here is a quick run down of how it went.

1) Knitted the bottom rib

2) Using waste yarn marked the center needles where the pocket will be placed

3) Knit to the bottom of the pocket opening

4) Put sides on hold and knit center stitches and decreased as pattern shows for pocket

5) When pocket is finished cast off top onto waste yarn. Remove from machine and let hang to the knit side
6) Rehang the marked purls back onto the machine knit to bottom of pocket opening
7) take sides off hold and continue to knit to the top of pocket
8) Transfer center needles onto the ribber to move them out of the way
9) Rehang the top of the pocket onto the machine making sure no stitches get dropped and unravel waste yarn cast off
10) Transfer needles from ribber back onto knitter and continue knitting

           I continued kitting up to the bottom of the armhole, marked those and decreased for the shaping.  I designed this so it had an area of purl stitched surrounding the neck to give it some stitch texture.  This was easy to do since I followed my pattern grid and just transferred the stitches to my ribber.  I had to do some partial knitting and some decreasing the shape the neck and the shoulder slope.  After all that it turned out pretty nice.  Notice the pink yarn?  It is waste yarn that I knit the shoulders onto so I can "graft" the shoulder seam together.  Grafting is simply a way of attaching shoulder seams seamlessly.

 

           I hope you enjoy the pictures of my progress.  More to come soon!
 

Philip - In Brooklyn

Seawolf - Sleeve Y'all

            So this little puppy is finally getting some love again.   I broke out the knitting machine and whipped myself up some sleeves.  First i had to finesse my pattern a bit and work it out on a grid.  I decided to knit it with a cable design going down the sleeve.  I used my Hand Manipulated Stitches For Machine Knitters book that I purchased earlier this year and found a beautiful opposing rope cable. 

            I patterned my sleeve out on a knitters grid in order to mark out all my increases and cable crosses in order to make sure no row counting got messed up.  That happens a lot and cables must I say MUST be placed the same amount of rows apart.  No one wants wonky cables.  Unless you're into that sort of thing, but I'm certain that's exactly the sort of thing that would get you into hot water with one, Mr. Joe McCarthy.

             Don't worry fellow knitters.  I plan on doing a post on machine knitting cables, please stayed tuned.

Philip - In Brooklyn

Inspiration – “The Great Gatsby”

            In July of this year there was a 1920s Lawn Party out on Governor’s Island.  So of course I had to make myself, and my mans, some sweet sweet “Great Gatsby” digs.  I chose to make myself a waistcoat and knitted Ryan a V-Neck sweater vest.  Of course my inspiration behind these beauties was Mr. Jay Gatsby himself as portrayed by Robert Redford. 

Here is a photo from the movie of Redford and Mia Farrow. 
Redford is wearing a cable knit V-neck sweater. 

The event we went to was in the dead of summer and it was about 9,000 degrees out.  So I opted for to make a vest instead of a full sweater.  Ryan, the poor sap, would have dropped dead in that heat… and most likely taken me down with him.  Ryan’s vest was machine knitted light weight white alpaca wool.  I took some liberties (GASP!), and added a merino wool navy stripe to the hem, neck and armhole ribs.

Ryan wearing his sweater vest, he held up well in the heat.

I use a Bother KH680 Machine with Ribber attachment.  This was my first project where I employed the use of a cable stitch.  Turned out pretty good I must say!  You can say it too if you like, down in the comment section.  Don’t be shy.

Here is Redford in a White 3 piece suit.

 

This is me.  A few refreshing drinks into this shindig.

I used the 3 piece suit as inspiration for the double breasted vest.  It is made of white summer weight wool with an off white slubbed silk lining and back panels.  The notched lapel is what drew me to this design.  I used a contemporary pattern, so there goes the period accuracy.  Although I did tailor the fit so I could forgo that stupid adjustable strap on the back. At least I looked good doing it though?

Philip - In Brooklyn