Woolly-Wits Says Even the Great Knitters Sometimes Falter

One of my favorite blogs is The Rainey Sisters.  I love that it is primarily, but not exclusively, about knitting.  I love the sophistication and advanced technique of their projects.  But, maybe I am mostly jealous about their relationship.  I have two sisters, but for the first forty years of our relationship, I was the only knitter.  Now my baby sister (do the math - at 40+, she isn't such a baby), is also a knitter.  However, as a busy working mom of two young girls, she doesn't have a lot of time to knit.  Fortunately, she also is surrounded by knitters in her college community, so she doesn't need to look to her big sis for help.  But, I digress . . . .

Last week Susan blogged about her latest project, this fabulous sweater from Vogue Knitting: 

It has lovely details and is right on trend for the retro-80's look happening in fashion right now.  But, remember the saying that if you've lived through the fad the first time you shouldn't revisit it?  Well, here's the consequence of violating that rule: 



Susan has a great figure, but this style is doing nothing to show it to it's best advantage.  The drop shoulders only exaggerate her more narrow shoulders.  The extra fabric in the chest not only makes her look larger, but also completely disguises her womanly curves.  And, the hem is cutting right across her middle, which is not typically an area any mother wants to showcase.    The next time she reads a hand knit described as 'very wide and cropped', she needs to keep going.  Susan needs a sweater with set-in sleeves, fitted, but not not tight, through the body and ending at hip length. 

The good news is that Susan recognizes this mistake, and that she usually does make good knitting pattern choices.  It's just a shame that a poor knitting pattern choice is a waste not only of our money (in terms of yarn), but also our time, which is even more precious.  This is probably a sweater which will be worn half a dozen times out of guilt, and then shoved to the back of the closet.  (And lest I sound too self-righteous, I just did a major purge to clear out my closet of my own past poor knitting choices.)

The other good news is that knitters tend to be kind and generous people, and I bet this mis-step sweater finds its way to the 20-something to whom it really belongs.