Bromley Knits: September 2010

Self made September has had a 5 day hiatus, in part because I am trying to work out what I will need for 9 months in DC and have been “test-wearing” some things (only to be advised by an American friend today that nothing I own will be warm enough for the DC winter come January!), but also because I only have a couple of light, summer weight knitted things – it’s been mild here in London – and I was getting sick of them. Most of my knits are wool and just way too warm at the moment. It’s made me realise that I need to knit more:
a) Fine weight clothing, as that’s what I like to wear
b) Cotton, silks and bamboos, as these items are more versatile and, with central heating, can be worn through all seasons here in the UK anyway.
Self made September has also made me go through my knitted items and decide what to keep and what to chuck (along with everything else in my wardrobe – nothing like a massive change of lifestyle and an international move to make you reassess your wardrobe!). Sadly, several items are for the charity shop – the filet patch blouse (I hated it), the Carie Cropped Cardigan (not my colours, and I never wore it as it was too warm, but not long enough!), the Thick and Thin Cardigan Coat (didn’t fit well) and the fitted tee (one Noro sweater in a wardrobe is enough! And due to a washing incident it’s felted and so unfroggable). It was however strangely liberating to get rid of these knits, which used to look accusingly at me every time I opened my wardrobe door (why aren’t you wearing us?).
Making the grade are: Bridie, the Back to School U-Necked vest, Juliet, the Bed jacket, the Anthropolgie cropped cardigan, and the Garter Stitch Tunic. These are all well desgined, knit in colours I like, and usually in good quality yarns, except Juliet, knitted earlier on in my return to knitting, before I’d given myself over to luxury in quite the same way. Sadly, she is looking a little the worse for wear.
Which brings me to reflect on why knitting patterns are often so odd? The Filet patch blouse, for example, required one to seam up the sides, but then leave the rest, including the arms – i.e. no sleeve seams. Why??? Why would you have no sleeve seams? When I tried this, the blouse promptly slipped off the top of my body – not ideal if you’re walking down the high street – and just looked unfinished. In the photo for the pattern, it is not immediately obvious that there are no sleeve seams, and of course the model is standing still. I know designers are trying to be cutting edge and different, but please – design things that can be worn.
I have, on the suggestion of a friend/fellow knitting group member, decided to start on the Rowan Project, as seen on Ravelry – knit something from every Rowan mag. I don’t own every Rowan mag, but I do have some older ones, and so I will knit something from every Rowan mag I own; not necessarily in order, but possibly. I am starting with Bella, a lace scarf by Kim Hargreaves. This was the first Rowan mag I bought (on my first trip to Liberty), and also the first pattern I did, in 1996, not long after I first arrived in the UK from Australia. At the time I knitted it in Fine Chenille, as the pattern calls for. This yarn is long out of production, but I do have some hand painted Aracunia chenille in my stash, and have substituted this. It’s heavier, but in true Jared Flood style I like the effect it’s giving on 5.5 mm needles, rather than fine weight yarn on 3 ¼. I remember struggling with that scarf, and the chenille originally, and it is long lost now, but this time around the scarf has knitted up easily in a couple of days.
Photos coming soon.

So far, I have been managing to wear or use something I have made every day in September (thanks Green Apples for the idea) - it's been a good way to get more wear out of things I have made, which languish in the wardrobe far too much. Today I am wearing a skirt I made out of some Liberty fabric I bought on sale there in January; I've only worn this skirt once before, and in fact it had been scrunched up in the cupboard for so long I had to wash and iron it last week!
Why don't I wear the clothes I make more? Sometimes it's fit, sometimes it's colour, sometimes it's that it was something interesting to do, but not something I actually want to wear; that happens most often with knitting, so yes I think I am a process knitter.
The photos below show how I have been going so far; we were away at the weekend so I wore Clapotis both days - needed in the chilly mornings and evenings of County Durham! I will keep posting on my progress.