Yay for weird garments!

When it comes to style I wouldn’t say I have rules like “never match pink and red!”. Of course you can do that if you want to. I do however have some guidelines for myself and even if I don’t always care about dressing good and stylish, I always have opinions about it.  Something that I always come back to is that there has to be a balance for everything to look good. If there is lot of  texture, there should not be lots of color and so on. If I have one colorful piece of clothing, I wear it with black jeans.

For me the goal is to find those weird garments that catch peoples interest, without the reaction being; look, the circus is coming to town!

Me being all serious and Lab-Coaty even with my fancy hair.

Here’s a little story about social signals. I like to dye my hair really colorful, and that will always generate a reaction from some people. I can say it really helped me get over social anxiety in my teen years, but I grew tired of it at times. Especially “older” people did not often see me for my personality, it was either: “She’s some scary punk and I will be rude now” or: “Oh how nice, you’re one of those manga/cosplay people, my granddaughter is also into that”.

It was exhausting at times, because I had to be much nicer and more social when meeting new people, to show that I was a reasonable person. I’m sure it’s like this for every situation where you are in minority and at risk of being wrongly judged.

I’m sure the colorful hair will be back at some point soon because I can’t keep away from it, but it’s often nicer to choose for myself when I feel like getting positive attention and socializing, or when I prefer to be left alone. And for that purpose, clothes are a really good social signal since you can change them every day!

To get to the subject of weird garments, I’ve found quite a few that i actually would like to knit! Many are in the category shawl/shrug/sweater.

• Amalgam is a “mini poncho/skirt” that was recently released in Knitty. It also has an interesting construction.
• Delirium is a “multi-garment” named after and inspired by a Neil Gaiman character. I will surely knit this at some point!
• Boko-boko is strictly just a cowl, but just look at it! It’s so weird and has a very japanese look. I love that you can even knit such a textured thing in one piece.
• Kappa is a garment by Veera Välimäki, who I totally adore. I once thought I had invented the idea for this type of garment, until I found this pattern. I imagine wearing this as a scarf when you’re on a hike, and when it’s time for fika break and there’s a chilly wind coming – bam! Kappa time! And there you have this awesome tube thing keeping you cozy. The reason I haven’t knit this is that it’s listed in lace weight yarn, and I just don’t do miles of stockinette in anything thinner than sportweight. And lace weight I don’t do at all. So I guess I’ll do the math for a heavier version at some point.
• Diplodocus dinosaur scarf or really any scarf out there that looks like an animal. (Why are these things so often only available in kids’ sizes…)
• Garlic because I love to eat garlic and this thing has a really unique shape. I recommend everyone to look out for the designer Chantal Belisle in the future, she is so cool and seems to be full of good and unique ideas!
• Outer Space by Stephen West is an asymmetric, over-sized sweater. It’s the chunky weight version of Enchanted Mesa, and for some reason I think the chunky version is much cooler looking. I also like the colors of the sample sweater.
• Pearl Clutcher is a cardigan with a classic shape and quite normal color choices.
• Hoodie Shawl cardigan is a hoodie that starts of by knitting a shawl. So clever! And Shawl shrug is based on the same concept. Shusui shrug by the same designer is also cool.
• Feather weather by Beata Jezek of Hedgehog Fibres  is a sweater designed for you to be fabulous in. Just imagine it flowing behind you in the wind, making you feel like a superhero knitter wearing your cape. I will knit this some day when i have the right yarn for it, and when the city needs me.

 

That was all for today, happy weird knitting! // Nelly

Right now

Hi! Right now I’m working on my Eyeball shawl by Stephen West: My eye

Here’s a bit of an unpopular opinion; I don’t really find his patterns that good. I would say that he’s my favorite of the popular pattern designers out there because the creations/garments/whatever are unique, colorful and they always feel fun and modern.

Many of the patterns out there are either classic and stylish but not that much fun, or
too much fun… Try to imagine those girls wearing those things outside of a photo shoot?
If you’re a grandma and give these things to your grandkids you obviously hate them, or the grandkids are too young to have a free will yet or to go to school and get bullied…

Loads of patterns are also really stuck in some age when I was not born yet… the 80’s! Yes drops design, I’m talking to you guys.

Anyways, even though Stephen West’s patterns are fun, it seems that people don’t always find them that easy to understand, and I can only agree with that. What I am trying to say is that a good design and a good pattern is not the same thing! And if I ever become a proper knitwear designer I will do my best to do both. Who has ever complained that a pattern was over-explaining the tricky stuff, really?

Do any of my readers have an opinion on this? Who is your favorite designer, pattern writer, or have you found yourself someone who can do both?

On another note, this week I came back after easter holiday to find that it had snowed. Or I actually got a bunch of videos of the snow so I already knew, but you know, I was thinking it could just be a new snapchat filter, one should always think critically. I’m now telling my radish sprouts to please get back down there and wait for another week! If they survive their first time in life I promise I will maybe post a picture.

I also want to share an online yarn shop that i found, called EatSleepKnit that I will probably never order from because it’s US only and super expensive, but it’s such a pretty webpage with only luxurious yarns. Another shop that I might order from at some point because I think they ship to wherever from New Zealand, is Stray cat socks. I’m not that into knitting socks like some people are, and regardless of that I would never knit socks with such expensive yarn, it seems like such a waste to me. But anyway, look at all of those color combinations, they are all spot on. I will go back at some point and steal them for a project!

Nice color combinations for knitting projects can also be found elsewhere, like this corridor staircase I found last week while I was out and about (which means drunk). I imagine the grey and yellow in a striped sweater maybe? And I guess I would also have to name the sweater Corridor A 20-23. Remember where you heard it first.

See you guys soon!