Most of my sweater malfunctions are caused by problems of fit. The sweater has the wrong kind of shaping for my figure, or I was mistaken in thinking the garment shape would suit me. Unfortunately, this bulky, chunky-knit sweater gives me the look of a sausage in a casing. Why didn’t it occur to me that the lack of waist-shaping would be a problem? Because I want to live in a Rowan world:
The romantic setting of the tundra against the stark white sweater and winter sky got to me. It is stark, dramatic, and totally irrelevant!! Stripped of its evocative setting, this is a simple stockinette sweater with a cable band thrown in. If I hadn't been so captivated by the dramatic look of these shots, I would have looked more closely at the model who was wearing it. Does this woman look like me?
In my wildest dreams! Here's my question--how many knitters DO look like this woman? When you search through the ravelry database, do six foot tall women weighing 100 pounds look out of every photo? No. Gravity sets in as we get older, adding pounds to our frames, especially the lower half. We certainly aren't getting any taller! But sweater models don't reflect that reality. At least, not in the Rowan World.
Lesson learned: I should have looked for a photo of a woman with my body type who was wearing this sweater in the ravelry database or another blog. That would have been a wise move before I spent my money on this expensive yarn. Even if I hadn’t had access to other people's projects, I should have critically examined the model’s body type vs. mine. Hmm, she looks about 5 inches taller than me, and 40 pounds lighter. I’m going to look wider & shorter than she does in this sweater.
Wow! Look at this comparison! Perhaps I should take a picture like this with all the projects I am considering making! Here is hard photographic evidence that I just don't have the figure to pull this off!
Compare that with this sweater, which I knitted from yarn that cost half as much, yet it looks twice as good! It all comes down to waist shaping, and a more realistic assessment of my body type. This was top-down sweater by Wendy Bernard, "Pink."
Curves magically appear, creating an hourglass figure! Isn't is amazing what a little waist shaping can do? My expensive white sweater is going into the "unraveling bin," but I'm keeping the pink one!