Knitting my “Boring Black Sweater”
I have a love-hate relationship with basics.
I love wearing them.
I hate making them.
This creates a little bit of tension in my self-made wardrobe.
I’ve talked a little bit before about the disconnect between what I love wearing, and what I love making. I love making really complicated & technically challenging, colorful & intricate & interesting things, while I love wearing basics – tank tops, jeans (they’re coming! – eventually…) and straight forward stockinette sweaters.
Sewing basics is pretty boring.
Knitting basics is a nightmare of boredom.
But a nightmare that’s kind of worth it.
I’ve dubbed this sweater the “Boring Black Sweater.”
It’s a solid black, basic pullover, knit in stockinette stitch, in lace weight yarn on a US size 4 (3.5mm) needle. Which, if you don’t knit, is tiny yarn on a not-so-tiny-but-certainly-not-large needles, in a very basic knitting stitch.
The yarn is “Forest Hills” from Cascade in color #3 “Anthracite” (black). I love this yarn for shawls. But I wouldn’t really recommend it for garments because of how much this sweater is pilling.
The pattern is a basic, yoked pullover, worked from the top-down, with a wide neckline, and turned hems on the sleeves and body.
Knitting it was really boring.
It was so boring, in fact, that I knit the sleeves too way short. And once the sweater was all done I cut off the cuff, picked up the stitches on the sleeve, knit a couple more inches, and graphed the cuff back on.
Even so the sleeves ended up being bracelet length, which isn’t what I had in mind, but works fine.
Even though it was kind of a nightmare to knit, I love this sweater. It works with just about everything in my wardrobe, and is the perfect thin layer to wear under or over something.
From now on though, I think I’ll stick to sewing, instead of knitting, my basics.
I just want new clothes – The Self-Made Wardrobe Week 15
The Self-Made Wardrobe is a project where I only wear garments I’ve made.
It’s sort of a year long experiment in getting dressed without clothing labels.
DAY 99 – NOVEMBER 7th
Moonstruck Cardigan
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Flats
Princess Necklace
Various Rings
I can never quite figure out how I feel about tights with ballet flats. Some days I think they look fine and keep your legs warm. Some days I think that the combination – especially when the tights and the shoes are the same color – make my feet look oddly long… And yet, in this picture I think my feet look kind of short… I guess feet are just a little weird.
DAY 100 – NOVEMBER 8th
Deconstructed Black Sweater
Boring Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Tights
Sneakers
Princess Necklace
Various Rings
It’s Day 100!!! Yay! Just 265 days to go…
I spent the day at a spindling demonstration/talk at Gauge & Tension (a popup yarn shop in Greenpoint) and would have much preferred to be wearing an easy button up over my boring black sweater – instead of the deconstructed black sweater – because it would have given me more range of arm motion.
Luckily a couple friends and I are planning on doing an Archer* Sew-A-Long starting in December. I have fabric for 2, so I’m going to jump the gun a bit, and sew one shirt before the sew-a-long starts, because I want to be wearing it now…
*Archer is the name of a basic button up shirt pattern, put out by Grainline Studios.
DAY 101 – NOVEMBER 9th
Perfect Transitional Weather Cardigan
Basic Black Tank Top
Pirate Skirt
Various Rings
It turns out that the Perfect Transitional Weather Cardigan, is also the Perfect Sit-At-Home-On-Your-Couch-Knitting-Your-Winter-Coat Cardigan.
DAY 102 – NOVEMBER 10th
Moonstruck Cardigan
Khaki Scarf
Gingham Skirt
Black Flats
Various Rings
I don’t love how this outfit looks, but it was a day of sitting at the computer writing, and these clothes were cozy & comfortable, so I went with it.
DAY 103 – NOVEMBER 11th
Moonstruck Cardigan
Boring Black Sweater
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Black Tights
Black Heels
I really love this sweater and skirt combination, but it was so warm I ended up taking off the Moonstruck Cardigan, and just wearing my Boring Black Sweater, which was much more boring to knit than it is to wear.
DAY 104 – NOVEMBER 12th
Boring Black Sweater
Basic Black Tank Top
Black Maxi Skirt with a Slit
Black Flats
Long Necklace with Spinning Pendant
Bead Crochet Bracelet
Various Rings
It was 60 degrees (fahrenheit) in the middle of November. WTH?! So I went back to my default blacks, and I realized a desperately want another black maxi skirt – they’re just so easy to wear!
DAY 105 – NOVEMBER 13th
Boring Black Sweater
Blue Kimono
Winter Coat
Graphic Silk Circle Skirt
Grey Tights
Black Heels
I took my winter coat out for an experiment yesterday. It was chilly enough to need it, but not cold enough to be a terrible mistake.
I’m super glad to say it worked! I only wore a light sweater under it, plus my blue kimono, and I was quite warm, but I definitely want to add a front zipper, and pockets. I wore the blue kimono over the sweater and under the coat to help keep the alpaca fuzz off all my other clothes – which also worked.
single minded knitting focus ends up paying off
Each Wednesday, I post little snippets about what’s happening, and what I’m working on.
Stick a fork in it, the knitting of my winter coat is done! I finished Monday night,
and then I promptly started another sweater.
I fall in and out of love affairs with spinning. Sometimes all I want to do is spin, and sometimes I have absolutely no interest in sitting at the wheel, or picking up the spindle.
Last weekend Gauge & Tension (a popup yarn shop out in Brooklyn) had a spindling demo by fiber artist Robyn Love, that totally rekindled my love of spinning. So I used it to bribe myself into finishing the knitting on the coat.
And I also used spinning to “encourage” myself to finish up a couple half finished blog posts (including the one about my pirate skirt.)
