Day 92: Caister by Marie Wallin
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/caister
It has been some time since I wrote about the 100 Day Challenge—this was a dare from my husband that I wear my hand knits for 100 days, and anything I deemed unfit to wear during that time would be tossed or given away. It was a genius idea, because one’s sentimentality about an old project can cloud one’s judgment about what value, if any, it may possess. Once you’ve worn that sad floppy piece for a day, however, you will be glad to toss it in the reject pile! So it was with my project, Caister, which you see above.
The devil is in the details, and you can see for yourself that the finishing of this piece is a disaster. The striped button placket is wigglier than a caterpillar, and the flimsy piece that emulates a peplum hardly reaches the top of my jeans. Caister taught me all the pitfalls of knitting a pattern as written without making adjustments for my figure. It also taught me the pitfalls of incorporating pieces that are knitted sideways in important structural areas of a garment such as the waistband, placket and collar. Sideways knitting creates a fabric that operates much like material cut on the bias. It tends to be stretchy to the point almost of floppiness, which is not something you want in the collar or tummy area. I therefore named the top The Floppy Caister. I had held onto it as a momento of the first ambitious garment I ever attempted to knit, but since I have my blog to commemorate it now, it is time to send it to a better place.
Day 93: Bay by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/bay
My Bay, designed by Kim Hargreaves, is everything that Caister wanted to be. Here is a well-constructed, figure-flattering garment that improves it in every way. The button placket, collar and peplum are knitted straight, not sideways, so they remain firm. And the gathered peplum creates such a beautiful line from waist to hips!
Day 94: Enchant by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/enchant
Enchant, another knit by Kim Hargreaves, failed entirely to enchant me. Look at all the extra fabric that gathers under the arms and hangs loosely there. Can you guess the cause of this droopiness? It is knitted sideways! I unraveled the shrug immediately after wearing it that day. It is not that I am against any knitted garments that are knitted sideways. But here is my reasoning. As one matures, it is natural to acquire a certain upholstery, shall we say, to one's existing structure. A certain amount of extra padding is natural, and there is no need to repine. Unless, that is, one adds to the downward trend with sagging knitwear! Now that is a crime. Out it goes!
Day 95: Tapestry Scarf by Imagiknit
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/tapestry-scarf
I must apologize for the delay in posting these final photos from my 100 Day Challenge. But external forces intervened in the happy flow of my knitwear dare. I went to Paris with the intentions of recovering my spirits and health after a devastating neck injury that I had sustained in a car incident some months earlier. It truly was a delicious adventure and I enjoyed almost every minute of my time there. However, the day we flew home from Paris, on the ride home from the San Francisco airport, the reckless driver of our shuttle impacted another vehicle, and my neck was re-injured again. As a result, there were five or so days when I was in too much pain to move so we put the 100 day challenge on hold. But recover I did, thanks in part to the pain-soothing lidoderm patches I am wearing around my neck underneath the scarf. I found this scarf invaluable throughout my recovery period and I only wished I had knitted a turtle-neck-style sweater as well. That will be one of the first items I will knit for the summer as I will likely be wearing the patches on my neck for some time.
My neck injury is improving, however, which I suppose is why I am writing about it now. After all, my blog is my happy place, and a refuge from my cares, so no more the physical struggles of the past six months!
Day 96: Lace Blouse by Jennie Atkinson
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/lace-blouse
Can you tell that I saved some of my least successful projects to the end? The lace shrug I am wearing above is an early project that I made before I understood the importance of swatching lace projects thoroughly. I swatched a few rows, it seemed to be okay, and then I cast on. Big mistake! The garment became a shrug instead of a blouse because the front panels were so much smaller than intended. Rather than unravel the painstaking lacework, I decided to keep the piece as a shrug, and honestly it is a much more versatile wardrobe piece now. There are so many fun summer tops that you can spiff up with a lace cardigan, whereas a button-up lace blouse has a ladylike vibe which prevents it from being used as a mix-and-match piece.
Day 97: Bay by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/bay
I am getting a ton of wear out of my Bay cardigan. I attribute that especially to the fact that I planned the length to be compatible with the jeans I like to wear. In fact, I lengthened the peplum by more than an inch just to clear that tricky waistband area where so many cardigans seem to fall short.
Day 98: Jen by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/jen
I lengthened this cardigan by an inch as well, because by making the ribbed section longer I was trying to make my waist look longer as well. It is a little trick we short-waisted ladies can use with cropped knits. This is the key: knitting pretty things is terrific as long as they make you look pretty as well. I would rather craft plain knitwear that makes ME look good rather than great-looking knitwear that makes me look plain. What are your thoughts, readers, about this?
Day 99: Glisten by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/bold-stripe-scarf
Can you see the hundreds of beads painstakingly knitted into this vest? I can’t either, even after working my fingers to the bone! Lesson learned—use high contrast beads with your yarn if you decide to invest the time in a labor like this. The weight of the beads also lengthened and narrowed this waistcoat so I am unable to button it. Still, it is a lovely piece and I will be gifting it to someone smaller than I am.
Day 100: Covet by Kim Hargreaves
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/yarnstylist/covet-2
Well, there it is! My 100th knitwear piece. The end of an era! Well, if I had known what a challenge it was really going to be to wear my knits so many days in a row, I don’t know if I would have taken on my husband’s dare. There were sidesteps and stumbles, but I learned so much! My 100th piece really captures the most valuable thing I learned, which is that the simplest things are the most precious. My fuzzy snood, Covet, brings me so much comfort during the cold months that I wore it more than any other knitted piece in my wardrobe, so I knitted a second one. And the runner-up? My Tapestry Scarf has been my constant companion, as any time I have a social or business appointment I can just wrap it around my neck to cover up the pain patches, transforming me to stylish woman on the go.
The 100 Day Challenge certainly had unexpected results. I had assumed that after wearing the 75 pieces of knitwear I possess over 100 days, I would be bored of every-day knits and focus my attention thereafter on challenging, “arty” projects instead. However, the opposite happened. I found the ability to wear my knits on every occasion so nurturing that I became even more charmed by my “easy wear” knits than before. In fact, instead of feeling I have enough sweaters, I have a list of many more essential wardrobe pieces to make! Surprisingly, my appetite for knitting my clothes has grown, and I wonder what my husband makes of it all. True, five of my projects have been moved out of the house and gone on to a better home, but over the course of this 100 day time period, another five have taken their place! And still those little fuzzy balls of yarn are popping up everywhere, proliferating in the corners of my stash. It is the invasion of the Terrible Tribbles all over again!
Some of my readers have kindly suggested that my husband should award me some kind of prize for completing the 100 day challenge. Considering the days I missed due to my neck injury, I do not know if that would be strictly fair. And then, when I really think about it, I can’t help feeling that it is my husband who deserves the real prize, for putting up with my knitting obsession. Anyway, thank you to all of my readers for your kind words of encouragement, and for following this challenge with me! For anyone who wants to read my 100 Day challenge posts in order, see the links below
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/01/the-100-day-challenge-knit-it-wear-it.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/01/the-100-day-challenge-week-two.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/01/knitting-at-work-the-100-day-challenge-continues.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/02/the-vanishing-shawls-mystery-the-100-day-challenge-continues.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/02/pep-up-your-knits-the-100-day-challenge-continues.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/02/day-50-of-the-100-day-challenge.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/03/farewell-to-winter-knits-day-60-of-the-knitwear-challenge.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/03/top-5-modern-lace-knit-patterns-knitwear-challenge-continues.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/05/sherry-by-kim-hargreaves.html
http://yarnstylist.com/2014/06/the-finish-line-of-the-100-day-challenge.html