The Lure of Novelty Yarn and Other Mysteries

An acquaintance was de-cluttering and decided to give me some "old" crochet and knitting booklets (maybe 10 years old?)  My first response was "sweet!".

A few came from Red Heart which contained some nice crochet patterns for tops and cardigans.  As my crochet skills improve, I may want to attempt them. Definitely keeping those patterns.

Nice Crochet Patterns

Unfortunately, the rest of the booklets--and that would be the majority of them--use novelty yarn.  Remember that furry, nubby stuff that was a pain-in-the-you-know-what to work with?  I know because I've tried to knit with the stuff and its no picnic (so hard to "read" one's stitches).  Still, I can see where a pillow or toy might be interesting in fun fur.

Furry Pillows and Throws

Furry Toys

But clothing in novelty yarn?  Hmmm, me thinks never ever!  Most of the patterns were for scarves, ponchos,  and furry cuffs and collars.  Amongst those was the odd sweater.

NO ONE should ever wear a hairy or furry sweater--unless the gorilla look is what you're after.  Still, some of the sweater shapes looked pleasing.  As I perused some of the patterns and their schematics, a thought percolated in my little brain.  Maybe I could use a smooth yarn to re-create the garment--minus the fur and texture of course.  As long as I could achieve gauge, it could be do-able (is that a proper word?).

Garments in Novelty Yarn

This is possible, right?

Now if I could just find some free time . . . .

The Perfect Fit--Or Not

The greatest challenge in making a garment is finding (or creating) a pattern with the perfect fit. To that end, this knitter has struggled. In off-the-rack clothing, I struggle to find my size (anywhere from XL to 2XL). If its not a specialty shop, sometimes its just hard to find my size. Or if the shop does carry my size, the fit is questionable, the style is unappealing OR the cost is just too damn expensive. It's just hard being stylish if you're fat (yeah I said it: I'm fat. Wanna make something of it?). What to do? Make my own sweaters that would be stylish, cost effective and fit properly. (The cost effective part comes from using acrylics and other unholy fibres--hence my name acrylic-girl--so if you're a yarn-snob, you might as well just leave right now to avoid any gnashing of teeth and eye-rolling).

Rewind: about a year ago, I started knitting Stefanie Japel's Short-sleeved Cardi from Fitted Knits. I just loved the pattern. Inspired by other knitters' projects on Ravelry, I plunged in and cast on. Now here's where the newbies are separated from the more experienced: the latter would consider the implication of negative vs positive ease, especially given that the lower half of the cardi was heavily ribbed. Clingy ribbing and rotund bodies do not necessarily mix. But in my misguided attempt to ensure fit and my inexperience with the concept of ease, I flubbed. Yes, I tried on the sweater and it fit well in the upper body. But I neglected to consider that the comfy upper body would clash with the clingy ribbed bottom (not to mention that the ribbing hit me in the abs and bottom in the most unflattering way). I forged on, in complete denial, hoping that in the end the button band would somehow fix everything .**shakes head in shame**

Fast foward: while I worked on other projects, the sweater sat around for a year, abandoned but not forgotten until just a few weeks ago. I picked it up and finished the second sleeve. Then I tried it on and new eyes saw the problems that my old eyes could not see. The fit was not right. The fact that I'd lost about 25 lbs since last year didn't help either (Don't worry. I'm still fat, but now I'm also healthier).

What did I do? Rip, rip, rip . . .

But all is not lost. I only ripped out the ribbing. I'm just gonna continue in stockinette. It'll be a cosy sweater rather than a sexy clingy knit (my most sincere apologies to Stefanie Japel 'cuz the fault lay in the knitter, not the pattern).

On the plus side, I do have neat little square buttons. :)