Being a knitter/crocheter affects how you look at garments in shops, right? Do you find yourself frowning and pondering at other people’s knitwear?
No?? Oh, OK, it’s just me, then.
There are some beautiful clothes out there. Look at this crocheted loveliness I saw in the window of a local charity shop.
How gorgeous? I don’t wear pale colours because they really don’t suit me (even my wedding dress was dark teal), but if I could just get hold of the pattern, I’d begin crocheting this jumper in a heartbeat. Possibly in purple. I wonder how this one was made, though. Proper crochet can’t be mass-produced by machine (which always gives me pause for thought in clothes shops when I see racks of crochet-looking jumpers). So who made this beauty? And how? Not sure about the scarf, though.
There are some oddities, too. In Marks and Spencer (that bastion of middle-class, middle-aged, middle-England underwear clothes-selling, I saw jumpers that made my knitty fingers twitch! Because, look!
I know they did this on purpose for effect, but I guarantee that very few knitters will be buying that top. Am I alone in my urge to unravel this jumper and re-knit it the other way round so that those stripes lose their extra micro-stripes of purl bumps? Or I guess I could just, y’know, wear it inside out. The wrongness of this jumper makes my eyeballs itch. At least, as knitters and crocheters, we’re entirely free to make our clothes in any design we choose.
Anyway, down to serious business. The log-fire is lit, the wine is poured, and I’m knitting:-
I owe you an explanation of where the various promised projects are up to. The crochet house bag pattern is nearly done, although the visual charts might take a little longer to produce. It’ll be here soon, and it’ll be free for any of you crazy enough to make it. I’ve been briefly diverted from finishing it by the need to produce a new pattern in time for a STYLECRAFT YARN GIVEAWAY at the end of this month. Stay tuned, folks! And the utterly insane giant furniture-related crochet house project is plodding along and nearly done. Meanwhile I’m slightly distracted by the deadline at the end of this month for the final final final submission for my novel-writing MPhil degree. So what with that, and supporting the newly-schooling twinnage (yes they’re coping, thank you very much for asking) and treating my patients in the hospital, and keeping us all supplied with home-baked chocolate cake, and trying not to forget the allotment, and attempting to prevent our brewery home from descending into total squalor, I’m a tad busy.
And yes, some quirky vloggy podcasts are still on the horizon.
Oh, and there’s just one more thing that I should mention. For anyone able to contribute a little knitted kindness for a neonatal unit, have a look at this: https://www.facebook.com/LeedsTHTrust/photos/a.588410397897335.1073741826.131381120266934/909673279104377/?type=1&fref=nf&pnref=story
Totally with you on the M&S knitwear faux-pas! Buy the charity shop top and dye it! xx
Tempting…
I want to turn that sweater inside out. But not for the purl bumps. I don’t like the dotted lines that happen when you change color, and I desperately want to fix that.
Knitters and their quirks! lol
Agreed. I seriously guarantee that no knitter will ever buy that garment.
btw, mostly (but not always), when I try and see your posts via bloglovin I get a message telling me that you’re untrustworthy, and I have to open another window and go directly to your site. No idea why
“This Connection is Untrusted
You have asked Firefox to connect securely to thetwistedyarn.com, but we can’t confirm that your connection is secure.
Normally, when you try to connect securely, sites will present trusted identification to prove that you are going to the right place. However, this site’s identity can’t be verified.
What Should I Do?
If you usually connect to this site without problems, this error could mean that someone is trying to impersonate the site, and you shouldn’t continue.
thetwistedyarn.com uses an invalid security certificate.
The certificate is only valid for the following names:
*.wordpress.com, wordpress.com
(Error code: ssl_error_bad_cert_domain”
Hmm, that is very strange. And thank you for telling me. I don’t think I’m THAT untrustworthy! Very strange… and very challenging for someone as technologically clueless as me.
sorry, I haven’t a clue myself. I wonder if there’s a way of asking Bloglovin, as I have no trouble if I go to your website directly.
My god woman! You need a secretary or a gofer or – or a something! I’d investigate dying the charming top and the scarf is a definite faux pas!!
Hmm, dye. Good idea. I might have to take another wander past that charity shop…
I know nothing about knitting or crochet, but it doesn’t look like it was finished properly. Ah, well, I routinely see those little Xs of stitched together jacket and coat vents on public transport and I wonder, “don’t people know they’re supposed to cut that? That the vent isn’t supposed to be stitched shut?” If I learned how to knit or crochet, I would see even more, no doubt.
Yes. Just because you CAN do something, doesn’t mean you SHOULD. Seriously, no knitter would ever buy that top.
Indeed that jumper is a fabulous example of crocheted goodness and one you should own and wear. Like those commenting before me, I also agree that you should buy and dye it (purple).
It is quite tempting…
“Buy it, and dye it”. Sounds like an excellent premise for a games show. Send avid crocheters and knitters out into thrift shops to pick up excellent examples of clothing and get them to turn them into gorgeous wearables. Glad to see you are coping and that life is zooming along nicely. Keep drinking wine. Everything is better with wine (and tea…don’t forget the tea when you can’t drink the wine…)
Wine is indeed good. And the solution to most problems, I find…
Me too. Slip on a pair of Rose glasses and sip the night away! 😉 Disclaimer: Not to be consumed every night of the week. Just days that end in “Y”
I totally agree about the reverse stripes. Even worse is reverse Fair Isle which was everywhere a couple of years ago. Horrid. Why do they do it?
Yes! Agreed! That was an abomination.
Exhausted just reading your busy ness. Will check out the neonatal request.
Curious but waiting patiently to see the house project!
It really is getting there. I don’t give up on these things, honest.
The neonatal squares are a wonderful idea, I will show to my doctor hubby for our hospital too.
shudder shudder at that jumper! Youre quite right I wont buy that! Best warn my non knitting friends off it too! Oh giveway how exciting, and best of luck achieving all your jobs and goals this month!!! jenny xxx
Thank you!
Ever since I got back into crocheting and knitting (and then sewing), all I do whenever I’m in shops (which is not that often, thankfully) is look at how things were made. I’m either fascinated at how something was done or disgusted that a rather complex garment is being sold for a stupidly low price, although the latter is a rant for another day.
I absolutely could not wear that reversed jumper. Nope. It’s just wrong. Admittedly, I’m even more offended by the dodgy way they’ve sewn in the neckband – how lazy is that?
Agreed. That jumper is wrong on many, many levels.
For me I don’t mind the sweater. I find it unique. Isn’t that really the point of our crafty endeavors to be different rather than the same? The atypical designs are the ones that usually are the most popular until a new one comes along because the other has become “mainstream”. Then again beauty is in the eye of the beholder and that is the benefit of having personal opinion and choice.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who scrutinises shop knits. The reverse jumper does bother me, in my mind it’s inside out. I am loath to buy knitted items but I have to remind myself that if I only wore sweaters & cardigans I’d knitted..I wouldn’t have very many at all!