Knitting to Wear

I've been thinking lately about why I knit what I do. Like many knitters, I get entranced by patterns and yarns, dream about creating unique garments custom-fit to my measurements, and I get a special thrill when it all comes together "just so."

This summer I noticed that I have seasonal "uniforms" that I put together, without fail, every year. I'm sure it's because my mother imbued a sense of classic styling in me very young, but there are few differences between dresses or outfits I would have worn at ages seven or twenty-seven. When I looked in my armoire, I noticed stacks and stacks of carefully-folded sweaters, shrugs, and little knits of all weights that I've amassed over the years and come to consider indispensable in dressing. Above anyone I know, I am that girl who always brings a sweater.

Unfortunately, my knitting output hasn't really matched my wardrobe needs up to this point. Of the projects I've actually finished (which is its own issue), the two I've used exponentially more than all others were both shrugs. Every single time I wear them, I get compliments. My friends and colleagues - and even strangers in churches in Italy - admire their unique shape or color, ask where I got them, and refuse to believe how simple they were to make, until (in one instance), I sketched out a top-down raglan and explained exactly how it was made.

There have been a handful of projects that, if I'm being honest, I will probably never wear. Or they require so much work to "fix" that I've lost all enthusiasm for them. That bums me out, and for a long time it discouraged me from knitting anything wearable (perhaps you noticed the sock fixation?). Often I'd hit that point of realization partway through knitting them, and they'd languish for several years in hibernation, their pieces stacked in my knitting basket making me feel guilty.

I've come to this realization before, but I disregarded those intentions and launched into a flurry of accessories, socks, impractical strapless situations, and well, more socks.

I think I've sorted it out now. I'm learning about which type of garments suit me, and I've gone back through my projects in progress to make a secondary queue of sorts, dividing pieces into those which I really do intend to finish, versus those I plan to frog so I can reuse the yarn for something I will actually enjoy wearing.

That said, I'm still going to make socks and accessories, since I love knitting them and I do wear them a lot. In fact, I've got big knee-sock plans for this fall. I guess in general, I'm going to try to spend my "sweater time" a little more productively if I can help it, and actually get some of these big exciting wearable things made.