A Capsule Wardrobe ~ Beginnings

As I promised myself I would, I tackled my clothes closet last weekend, and you know what?  I actually enjoyed the experience of going through all my clothes and getting a handle on what I own and wear.  I've decided to go with the set number of items for my capsule.  Well, not exactly an exact number in that I didn't choose five shirts, four sweaters, etc.  Rather, I decided to pull together a group of clothes that I know I can mix and match easily and comfortably for the next three months.

Here's just a glimpse of my selection:  three linen tees from Madewell from last season which will be a great base for jeans and trousers and that can go alone or covered by a few cropped sweaters that I've owned for a gazillion years. These cardigans are from Old Navy (year unknown) which have surprisingly held up over time.  

In terms of my knitted sweater capsule, I'll definitely knit a cardigan with a similar feel to these store-bought ones ~ I love Flaum (and everything in this issue of Amirisu), Marion (and all Andi's cropped sweaters), and Belmont, to name a few.  With my petite physique and short torso, cropped cardigans are a great staple in my wardrobe and I love the idea of carefully choosing the perfect yarn for this style.  I'm getting inspired ....

A Capsule Wardrobe Part I

The other day, as I was going through my clothes closet, I found myself reaching for the same pair of pants, the same tee shirt, the same pullover, and the same coat. And then I looked at all my other clothes and wondered why they get so little air time. To put it simply, I have more clothes than I actually wear and my go-to pieces are what make me feel most comfortable, most confident, and most happy.  This got me thinking that I really need to stop thinking about a capsule wardrobe and instead start creating one.

As someone who loves to do research before tackling a new project, I took to the blogosphere and started reading:  Unfancy, Into Mind, The Every Girl and looking at Pinterest which is rife with inspiration:  here, here, and here, to name a few.  All this reading and looking has me excited to tackle my closet this weekend, a task that has jumped to the top of my to-do list. I haven't fully decided which plan of action I want to take:  limit my capsule to a particular number of items for a three month period, rid my wardrobe of items I no longer wear, or something completely idiosyncratic to myself. I won't know until I actually go through all my clothes but one thing that I have been thinking about and feel like committing to is creating a capsule of hand-knitted sweaters for next fall and winter.  There are certain colors (mainly neutrals) and styles (I love turtle necks) which will certainly be on my needles soon but I'd love your suggestions.  

From Elle Magazine

I've created a pinterest board of woolly sweaters that I'll knit in the spring for the colder months and welcome any and all pattern recommendations that you have.  I'm more partial to top-down, raglans but to have some diversity in my capsule, I know I need one or two set-in sleeve designs, too, so send them my way.

From Lolobu

These two pullovers are examples of the look I hope to achieve in my wardrobe eventually.  Tres chic, oui?

Magical

Sometimes, I can't help but feel that knitting is like magic.  When you combine the right yarn with the right pattern, some type of fairy dust must hover over the project and create something like this.

This is the Riverton Cowl which needs only one skein, but I highly recommend that you pick a yarn that has a lot of loft as the stitch pattern really enhances a fiber such as alpaca or cashmere.  I knit mine in Juniper Moon's Herriot which is 100% alpaca and 100% scrumptious.  This is my first time knitting with any JM yarn and it certainly won't be my last.

Another project that seems to be made from magic dust is a 2x ribbed beanie which I cast on the other night for my girl.

I love that she still asks for knitted gifts and even though it's only days away from Christmas, I'm determined to finish this up over the weekend.  I'm totally improvising here ... I decided to go top-down and am winging the increases and ribbing as I go along.  It seems to be working (keep your fingers crossed), and I am absolutely loving knitting with Woolfolk's Tynd.  Talk about dreamy!

And if I don't seem to have enough on my needles, let's not forget my hubby's pullover that I'm desperately trying to finish by the 25th.  I'm knitting this in Malabrigo Rios ~ another dreamy yarn. Heck, I can't complain ~ all these yarns are such pleasures to knit with. Hope you're enjoying all your gift-knitting this year, too!

A Sleeve ... or Two

There are those of you who aspire to have a variety of projects on your needles. You've got a hat, a sock, a mitt, a sweater, and a blanket all having a party in your knitting basket.  And then there's me.  If I have more than two projects calling for my attention, I get a little antsy and, yes, even a little dazed.  It's not that I can't multitask (I'm the queen of multitasking), but I find it hard to work on one project and not feel like I'm neglecting the other one.  Anyone willing to offer knitting therapy?

And then there's the UFO (aka unfinished object) lurking in the back corner of the closet or at the bottom of the project bag or stuffed under the couch cushions.  Okay, hopefully not under the couch cushions, but I have a feeling you know what I'm talking about.  So, here I was, at the start of fall knitting season feeling very proud of myself for having individual clear bags filled with yarn, needles, and pattern waiting for when I would finish one project to then cast on a new pattern.

And then I dug just a little deeper into my knitting basket and saw it ... my UFO from last October! It was my Bailey cardigan begun with some gorgeous Uncommon Thread Yarn that Mark brought back all the way from Loop London in summer 2013.

You can be sure that I whipped that project out of its bag, read through the pattern again, found where I had left off, and started knitting.  And I have to say, with complete joy, that I have been enjoying my Bailey so, so much.  This is all to say that I have been monogamously knitting on my cardigan and am almost finished.  Yes, you see one fully completed sleeve and another one making its way to the elbow.  

I guess you can say that I'm not suffering from second-sleeve syndrome.  

Please Knit List

Thanks so much for all your comments on my last post.  In all honesty, I hadn't even thought about the possibility of the red bleeding into the white (Maryse, you deserve a knitting medal for pointing this out to me!).  I loved the words of caution (Gail, Wildflower Wool, and Andi) mixed with the cheers of enthusiasm (Ellen, Kepanie, Kelly, and Preeti), but at the end of the day, I couldn't risk spending all those hours knitting this combination of the Nangou only to watch it morph into a pink and red shawl.  Yes, my friends, I frogged it (again!).  So, what's a knitter to do?  You guessed it ~ I cast on something completely new and different.

I'm one of those lucky knitters whose children actually ask for hand-knitted garments. Each fall, Miranda has her please knit list, and presents it to me with the sweetest smile.  This is when I wish I had eight pairs of arms because she usually has at least eight sweaters (yes, sweaters) that she's hoping will fly off my needles before the first snow flake falls.

I am always so happy to oblige but sometimes her wishes take a little time to figure out. Last fall, she fell in love with a hip-length cardigan that she saw at Urban Outfitters and asked begged me to knit it for her.  It was incredibly simple (drop shoulders, V-neck, long sleeves, pockets), but the textured stitch had me stumped.  I did a bunch of swatches but none matched the look of the UO sweater.  Fast forward to this fall ~ I came across a gorgeous cardigan on IG and traced it back to the Comfort Zone pattern.  Two seconds later, the pattern was in my library, and I was swatching to pick the best yarn for the project.  I'll tell you more about my swatching process in my next post but for now, I can't seem to put this cardigan down.  And I guess you can say that I'm not done with the color red just yet!

Yes or No?

It's Friday which in my book means thinking about what I'll be knitting this weekend.  I'm really enjoying my Nangou shawl, but I'm feeling unsure about my contrasting color. If you recall, originally, I started this shawl in red and found the fabric ... blobby (isn't that a word?) and undefined.  I frogged it and decided to knit this in a white DK which I like a lot but what do you think about the contrasting red stripe?

When I first finished the red section, I almost frogged it again but then thought better ~ after all, I didn't want to be too hasty.  So, I knit a few more repeats of the pattern in white, and I have to say that I'm growing more fond of how the shawl is developing.

I'm ready to add another stripe but it'll have to wait until after the weekend because I've got sweaters on my mind.  I just came across two new-to-me patterns here and here which I just may have to cast on. As you can see, I'm all about the textured stitch right now. Oh, and I got a new armchair for the living room and love it.  Somehow, we're sporting a whole 1950's Mad Men vibe in our apartment and it's making me very, very happy! 

Have a great weekend, everyone!

(A) List

Thanks for all your sweet comments about my last post ~ every time a new photo pops up on my family's instagram or FB pages, we're all smiles again!  I think this feeling is going to last for months and months...

But now to this weekend ~ I'm a serious, die-hard, dedicated, and committed list maker, and I am chomping at the bit to tackle my Saturday to-do list.  Having worked the first two Saturdays in September followed by the wedding of the decade, this is the first weekend where I can devote an entire day to my crafting.

Now that I'm living split between two places, I don't have spontaneous access to my yarn stash any longer.  I know, I can feel your anxiety growing at the thought.  So, the first thing I plan to do tomorrow morning is sit with a big mug of coffee and get re-acquainted with my stash.  I already have two sweater quantities of yarn in one of my baskets assigned to two patterns: the Beaubourg pullover and the Reverb cardigan.  I'll see if I stay true to my original plan to knit the Beaubourg in Manos Maxima and the Reverb in Malabrigo Rios.  I'm really going to try and not get swayed by other patterns but you know how this works, right?  Some shiny new pattern pops up on my feed and I get fickle.

I think I have a few more sweater quantities of yarn in Rowan Calmer, Rowan Lima, and Rowan Kidsilk Haze,  but other than that, I'll be making lists of shawl, cowl, sock, and hat patterns for all the rest.  Can you tell that I'm trying to knit down my stash?  Share your favorite in any or all of these categories ~ I'm completely open to being inspired!

Happy weekend, everyone.

A New Project for A New Month

Did May pass by as quickly for you as it did for me?  If today is an indicator of how quickly June will also fly by, I'm in trouble.  It's already mid-afternoon and while I've been productive (a 5k run, grocery shopping, laundry, a trip to the library to pick up this book which I'm excited to read), I still have so much on my to do list for the rest of the day!

One thing that I'm definitely going to do is swatch for my new June project with this gorgeous yarn that I picked up yesterday at my LYS.

Arroyo

I'm going to knit a Portico tee for the summer, and I know that this color way is going to keep me smiling all the way to the bind off. 

But what was I up to in May?  I fell down another rabbit hole and have started scrapbooking (thanks to my uber talented sister whose scrapbooks are truly a work of art).  

And I cast on a summer cardigan for Miranda of my own design.  She has an arm's length list of sweaters she'd like me to knit, and there's no way that I can refuse.  

But this afternoon, I'm going to do some knitting for my own summer wardrobe so excuse me while my ball winder calls.  

FO: Inland

I can't explain why my Inland took me so long to knit and finish, but I can say it was entirely my own fault. I've already gushed about how much I love Jane Richmond's patterns, and this one is no different. Yet, for inexplicable reasons, this project kept getting put back into my knitting bag and weeks would pass before I picked it up again. Completely bizarro as I loved the pattern and the cardigan is knit with bulky yarn on size US10.5 needles ~ seriously, what was the matter with me?

But I'm done beating myself up. What's more important is the fact that I now have a beautiful cozy and classic cardigan in my wardrobe.  Everyone needs a pop of red in their sweater collection and this red is the perfect red:  warm and cool at the same time.  The yarn is Cascade Ecological Wool which is one of my favorite bulky wools ~ it's economical and blooms so nicely after a soak.

My lovely and talented friend Susan spent an afternoon photographing Miranda recently, and she took this fabulous shot ~ Vogue, anyone?

I Shouldn't Have ....

... but I did.  My LYS had an impromptu sale the weekend before last, right on the heels of Brooklyn Tweed offering a rare discount code on their yarns and patterns, and my will-power completely disintegrated.  I splurged and bought an armful of BT patterns ~ Oshima, Reverb, Hudson, and the Channel cardigan.  Heaven knows when I think I'll knit all these gorgeous sweaters but just having them in my library makes me very, very happy.

So, when Knitting Nation announced a brief but generous sale on all their yarns, I just had to stop in and see if I could buy a sweater's worth for one of my new BT patterns.  I've only knit with Malabrigo Rios once before but remember absolutely loving it.  PearlTen is a gorgeous gray-purple colorway which will be beautiful knit up in Oshima ... or Hudson ... or Reverb ... I'll let this marinate for a while and decide later.