Ugly knitters anonymous
Jenny’s comment on my last post and a recent post of Knit and Tonic bring the discussion to a sad sad fact. Somehow, learning to love knitting means losing any and all fashion sense. I want to be chic and cool, but I want to knit frumpy frumpy things. Like shawls. And self-patterning yarns.
My name is New York Minknit and I like to knit ugly things.
And if you keep reading my blog this week, I’ll have some (or at least one) potentially-ugly finished object for you to observe. And as a preview of something I recently started, look at this sock that I started (and yes, I still have another pair of socks unfinished.) Ugly, yet alluring.
To attempt to end on an uplifting note, I will now promote The Sartorialist. This photo is from his site:
That sweater has cabling, yet is great. I’m not sure about all that naked chest-ness on top, but I salute Mr. Hipster for his fashion decision to BELT his sweater. I’m not sure all men should emulate this, but it is kind of awesome.
March 9th, 2007 at 2:46 pm #Kim
mmm, ugly floppy man-sweaters. also, that sock isn’t ugly! i love green!
March 10th, 2007 at 11:26 am #jenny
I think part of the problem is that, as knitters, we tend to pick patterns based on their merits as a project rather than on an objective assessment of how attractive they will be (on us, in our house, on our friends). And when it comes time to display them, we’re guided by showing off their attributes, not showing of our attributes. For instance, I disagree somewhat with Knit and Tonic on the shawl issue–I think bulky, heavyweight shawls tend to look bad on pretty much everybody. If you’re going to wear a shawl, I think you’re best off with a light, lacy one that you can bunch up and drape casually around your neck. However, most people who take the time to make a lacy shawl wear the shawl like a cape so that they can show off all their handiwork—often leading to the “granny” look that K&T mentioned. In this case, I don’t think it’s that the shawl is destined for frumpiness, but that the knitter values showcasing the knit over showcasing herself. The same thing happens with pattern selection. At a clothes store, I try on many clothes to find the most flattering fit. With patterns, I often gravitate towards interesting knits, with complete disregard with what is flattering on me. Case in point: I just cast on on the Nora Gaughan cover pattern of the winter Vogue knitting because I thought it was awesome. Even though it is bulky and cabled and pretty much guaranteed to make me look like a linebacker. I just couldn’t resist. I guess the point is that wearing attractive clothes gratifies my vanity, but wearing interesting knits (even those that are unattractive on me) also gratifies my ego, which I must find valuable on some level. Even if my boyfriend doesn’t.