A Similar Sweater

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Verona, Wisconsin, July 2016. I worked the sweater in the same pattern as this one. Here's the yarn; I used color "Latte."

Another Gift

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Verona, Wisconsin, May 13, 2016. Yesterday I delivered this sweater to another physician who has been at my side for nearly seven years. The design is Alice Starmore's "Irish Moss" from Aran Knitting (newer edition here; available as a kit here). This is one of my favorite designs.

I logged my time on this one; it took 154 hours to knit.

An Earlier Variation

I realized after I published "A Gift for a Guardian Angel" that I neglected to post photos of sweater I earlier had knitted for one of my cherished physicians. It was a big project: the recipient wears extra-long garments, and the finished sweater measured 50 inches across. It took about eight weeks to knit it—at a pace of about four hours of knitting per day.

(The most common two remarks people make about knitting: "How long did that take?" and "If I buy the yarn, will you knit me a sweater?")



Madison and Verona, Wisconsin, October 2013. This design is Alice Starmore's "Alba" from The Celtic Collection. I changed the colors to the same 15, undyed natural colors I earlier had used to knit the same sweater for Mr. Irene.

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The design also is available, as a kit, here.

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Oh! And I knitted the original design, way back when, for myself:

A Gift for a Guardian Angel

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Madison and Verona, Wisconsin, March 2016. I knitted this for one of my "keepers." The design is Alice Starmore's "Luskentyre" (also available, in different shades, here as a kit).

Finished-Object Reunion

Verona, Wisconsin, October 2015. This is "Mary Tudor," a design by Alice Starmore. The button is amber backed with copper: custom made.

Although this was a fun knit—it's the first time I've worked up a Starmore kit—I can't say I am crazy about the color palette. I prefer more muted shades.

SWANTS

Shetland knitwear designers Kate Davies features a post about SWANTS, or "sweater-pants." Artist Stephen West bought an old Norwegian sweater—a Setesdal—at an Amsterdam thrift shop. He then steeked the vintage garment into a pair of pants. Yes, the first thing I see is the codpiece, which looks like it came from a central motif on the sweater's back.
 
Here's a man wearing a knitted jumpsuit. The creator called it an "Aran catsuit."

Mr. Irene has never worn knitted pants—and he'd never wear a knitted onsie. But he has humored me by wearing some brightly colored sweaters:

Madison, Wisconsin, November 17, 1991. Mr. Irene and I attend a post-performance party hosted by our folk dance group, Žaibas. I wear Vogue Knitting's 1991 Map of the World sweater. Note that I altered the pattern by knitting the Soviet Union in red, not pink, and adding Lithuanian as an independent country. I also knit the sweater in Merino Wool (Baruffa's "Maratona"), not in cotton. Mr. Irene wears a cotton (Tahki's "Cotton Classic"), sport-weight Aran based on a sweater, knit in the same salmon color, in this issue of Filatura di Crosa.

Hand knitting peaked somewhat in the early- to mid-1990s (I worked in a yarn shop as a sales girl between 1991 and 1992, so my view may be skewed). The garments were complicated and challenging, and designers like Missoni and Fendi regularly created new patterns. I think if today you want to knit something in that same league, you should turn to some Japanese patterns. Many of the American knitting magazines now target beginner, or "quick," projects.

Fortunately, one of the best designers from the earlier era—Alice Starmore and her daughter, Jade Starmore—still create stunning designs.