The poncho hangs in the hall closet begging to be unraveled or waiting until I find myself homeless and in need of a giant burnt orange wool tent.
The shrug is probably proudly adorning a girl about 8 inches shorter than me, or someone who likes 3/4 sleeves. It was okay. I wore it a couple times, but it simply didn't fit me well as I made the sleeves too short, having measured my back with my arms straight, not bent. It would have looked great had I worn it to say... my crucifixion. It got donated.
The first sweater... I don't remember very well. I knit it when I was 20 (half a lifetime ago!). It was wool in a lovely charcoal/brown sort of color and it had a cable that ran up each sleeve with an otherwise stockinette body and high collar. If I remember right, the armholes and upper arms were too tight and it was incredibly warm.
The last sweater I remember all too well: bright salmon colored cotton in a horizontal textural stripe that switched back and forth every 3 inches or so from stockinette to reverse stockinette all over, including the 3/4 length sleeves and deep hanging cowl neck. What does stockinette do? It curls, in this case in and out creating rolls. Pattern was modeled prettily in the magazine. I looked like the love child of a Circus Peanut and the Michelin Man in it. Horrible.
And so, tired of expensive disappointments, I swore off garments. I haven't knit a garment for myself in about 6 years.
If you asked me to classify myself as a knitter, I'd tell you I'm a "jump into the deep end of the pool" kind of knitter. I generally love a challenge and don't fear any technique.
If you ask me about clothing, I'll tell you, in all honesty, I don't have a good understanding of my body type and I change sizes seemingly twice in a day. I have a general idea what shapes look good on me. I don't completely understand how to look at a pattern size and understand how "ease" will affect the fit. And although I don't have any problem resizing and altering stitch patterns or resizing a shawl or other accessory, I'm terrified of modifying a garment pattern.
Phew! That was awful. I hate confessing I don't understand how to make clothes fit me. But I don't think I'm alone. Yeah, there is a gifted population out there that innately understands shaping and either knits or sews clothing gorgeously. There is a distinct other population out there that have the ideal body type and look good in everything, regardless of size, cut, shape, or time of the month. I don't fit into either of these categories. But I'm aiming to understand shaping.
I would love to knit a sweater that not only features a gorgeous new design but that fits me and looks great on me. And so, I embark on taking some classes, knitting a pile of swatches and "jumping into the deep end" - mostly. Okay, no, not so much. I'm actually dipping a toe in first. Whilst I'm taking said classes, I'm knitting myself a sweater. Shhhh! Don't tell the knitting gods. They will jinx me faster than I can say "tink!" I'm working on a simple sweater that is actually meant to replace a store bought sweater that I adored, loved, wore constantly and managed to shrink in an accidental machine washing. It has very little shaping and is meant to be oversized. It should be a no fail project, but we will see. It could turn out to be a wool bathrobe for Hagrid.
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