Thursday, December 12, 2013

Revamping an Old Sweater

I made a Rowan sweater in the early 90's that I really loved.   It is called Jester by Kim Hargreaves.  It has a typical 80's and 90's sensibility, in that all of the sweaters I made at that time were blocky and oversized, no inset sleeves here.



I do love this sweater, and I have tried very hard through the years to find things to wear it with, but alas, despite all of the work, I don't wear it.  I have finally decided to update it so that I will finally wear it again.  



I will document my process and give a tutorial for doing this.  Although, the main thing it takes is guts to steek and cut the sweater once you have figured out how you want it to fit.  In the meantime, I am finishing my own sweater from our sweater kits.  I am sewing on the second sleeve and have the button band to knit.  I will post it soon.



Sweater Creatures

My son and I went to a craft fair last weekend.  I was trying to sell some sweater kits, but decided I needed little things to sell.  I spent two weeks making creatures out of recycled sweaters.  My son made candle holders out of limbs from around our farm.

I did not get any photos of the booth, but I do have some photos of the creatures.  Here is a little cashmere mouse with embroidered eyes and decoration.


 This is Katie Caterpillar.   It is fun to make these creatures.  It took a bit of practice, the first ones I made were pretty crude, but after a few hours and lots of creatures, I became much better at making things.   I really like this little one.


I have to say, although the photos don't do her justice, I just love this little cashmere bunny.  She is soft and huggable with an embroidered nose and ears.


I ended up not selling any of my creatures.  I was a bit disappointed, plus I didn't sell any sweater kits either, although lots of people wanted to buy the sample sweaters I had on hand.  I did sell a few kits.

I had mouse, monster, owl, and rabbit kits for sale.  The animals were already made, just the stitching for faces and decorations needed to be done.  I sold a couple of these kits, at least enough to pay for the booth.  My son on the other hand, sold quite a few of his candle holders.  He was quite pleased, although he did say that sitting all day at the booth was much harder than caring for the neighbors chickens!