FO: Ondrea Prototype

  

The moment that I cast off the sleeve for this sweater last week, I had the harebrained notion that I could finish it in time for my fashion school graduation ceremony (around NYFA it is simply called "going to tea") this last weekend. This sweater was one of the first pieces that I started for my senior collection in 2013, and around week 6 of preparing for the runway show, I dropped it after completing everything but the second sleeve and button band, thinking I could finish it really quickly afterwards.

That, my friends, did not happen. Although I haven't talked about it much here before, the months after the fashion show were pretty rough for me: there's this post-creative depression thing that seems to happen to a lot of people who work on big, overwhelming long-term projects, and I got hit with a pretty nasty case of it. And because of it, I could barely look at my sewing machine, much less this sweater, for almost a year.

But time heals many things - or at least, makes them seem less catastrophically exhausting - and after a long time, I began to entertain the idea of making things again at all. Which turned into a ballgown, and a tailored jacket, and finally, this sweater.

So it feels very fitting that I should finish the last loose end of my official fashion eduction, just hours before going to my final send-off. I'm very proud of this piece, and I'm very proud how far I've come as a designer and as a person in the years since I cast on for it. 

And with that - tally-ho, fashion degree! Let us advance into the world with winged eyeliner, fabulous shoes, and the best damn buttons a girl could ask for!

All the details are on Ravelry here, and I'll be posting a little about our ceremony on Wednesday.

Happy Monday, friends!

<3

Cory

WIP: Alpenglühen - A Body

 

It always blows my mind a little, how terrifically hilarious a well-fitting garment looks on the hanger. Absent a 3-dimensional figure, shape-skimming darts fold awkwardly; ribbing throws great poofs of fabric into the body at the point where they meet; armholes & necklines gape and roll unattractively.

You would never know that this misshapen blob of yarn is actually a lovely, hourglass-shaped cardigan until you throw it on a person - and there the magic happens. All of these confounding shapes and crevices stretch and snuggle into place, gently hugging concave and convex curves alike. Something that was ugly comes alive, and in doing so becomes beautiful.

Although I've been shy of knitting sweaters for the last few years, watching this cardigan come together has reignited my love for the knitted garment. It's easy to get intimidated by the prospect of a badly-fitting sweater, and I think that's where I've been for a long time - but unlike so many other things in life, yarn has such give. You can knit it up all wrong, and still it has potential; all you have to do is unravel and begin again.

And that is pretty damn cool.

Happy Wednesday, friends!

<3

Cory

WIP: Minty Fresh Alpenglühen

 

On Christmas day, while we ate aebleskivers and drank mimosas at home in our pajamas - which is, in my opinion, the best way to spend a holiday - I cast on for a new cardigan, a pattern called Alpenglühen. Because I like to live dangerously, I didn't swatch, and just went ahead and cast on for the 40" size. I also decided to throw in some extra shaping in the front, and change up the cable detail at the center front... needless to say, I am a paragon of immorality and bad sweater-knitting habits.

(I swear I will do better next time. Maybe.)

And on the subject of immorality, the yarn is some Malabrigo Worsted I've had sitting in my stash for about five years. I have a bad habit of getting sweater quantities of yarn and never knitting them because I'm afraid of screwing them up, when really, the best way to learn how to do things well is to screw up. I tell my students this exact thing every week - how failure is an opportunity, how it builds skills and confidence to fix or adapt your mistakes - and yet I can't take my own advice, because... well, because I am a paragon of immorality and bad sweater-knitting habits.

On the other hand, my sweater does look pretty good so far. I guess yarn crime does pay, after all.