Knitting??

I can already imagine what everyone is thinking, a 19 year old knitting away instead of going out partying.

Truth be honest I'm not a party kind of girl so instead I keep myself busy by drawing, working and apparently knitting too.

I first started knitting when I was in school 11 years old when my teacher mentioned that she was starting a knitting club for students during our lunch hour, so I thought why not try it (I was in a lot of after school clubs so this was another addition to keep me busy). So I went and started to practice knitting, I brought my own knitting needles and yarn and started to do it from home. 

Baring in mind I haven't actually finished what I started knitting years ago but it would pop out of my draw and I would start knitting from time to time until I complete forgot about it.

So why take it up again??

One of the main reasons as to why I wanted to take it up again is because I saw this gorgeous scarf online that was roughly £200, it was long, thick and wide and I was in love with it. But obviously I don't have much money due to saving for london. So instead of forking out 200 for a scarf, I thought why not make one myself and I am.

I bought hayfield chunky with wool, 145m, black (obviously) from fenwick and it didn't take me long to finish my wool. Obviously it had been a really long time since I've last touch a knitting needle to which I turned to youtube to reteach myself how to cast on stitches and to join on more yarn. I found this very useful and I'm really impressed with my progress.

I'm guessing that I will need maybe 3 or 4 more bundles of wool depending on how long I want my scarf to be. 

The large image that displays my progress so far and how long a full bundle goes, this about just wraps around the neck and the wool is thick and very soft. Obviously when I've finished I will need to pull the scarf a little to make it seem longer and slightly stretch because at this minute when it's sat how it is now it looks short and thick. Stretching it will make the finished look longer and slightly thinner.

The following videos are the clips that have helped me restart my knitting are - 

Casting on - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nWJQvsZ6kT0

Joining on - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy__eVIDshE

Casting off - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kIhhAM5MFbQ

 <<<< Click to enlarge

It's been a while...

And it most certainly has.

So today I'm going to give an update and an inside look on what I've been up to.

So I guess I should start with my drape project, not going to lie I haven't done anything like this before so I am struggling in some areas such as the construction and creating a pattern piece.
Although it doesn't entirely help that my designs aren't exactly simple to make or recreate on the stand for the matter. But I must say I am enjoying what I am doing so far.

Some of the designs that I've made on the mannequins do look quite complex due to the way the fabric falls. The fabric that I had used in these images was hard cotton, grey which was a thick fabric that didn't entirely fall like silk instead it kept it's shape and created a 3D like effect.

I did experiment with a softer and lighter fabric which I didn't really like the feel off. Simply because I thought it made my design ideas look cheap and tacky So I decided to scrap the fabric and stick to the hard cotton.

My main inspiration for my designs were Gareth Pugh and Tainted Wool because they use a lot of over sizing to their best ability so I decided to use them in my designs.

In further posting I will show progression on my sketchbook and the collection that had inspired me with my designs.