Inspiration - Striped Knits

I knit, but that doesn’t stop knitwear in general from being one of my favourite clothing items to shop. Unless, of course, it happens to be wildly, impossibly, exorbitantly expensive.

Case in point - this gorgeous navy and white striped knit sweater with the most interesting purl detailing. I’m sure it was ridiculously priced, as I hadn’t the prescience then to take notes on where it was from (this is because the pricing must have made me conclude I would never actually buy the thing, even if it were on sale). Reverse Google Image Search is giving me a beanie, and much more mass produced version from Isabel Marant.

And look, I get it - I do, I also knit - knitters and handmade textile workers need to be paid an amount commensurate to their labour. But I’m also, you know, not made of money. I figure that a sweater for my size is usually 8-9 skeins of yarn, and at the upper end of the price rang for the yarn that I buy ($12), that’s about $96-108. Plus a ~$10 pattern? Since this is a hobby (#girlmath) the labour is free. Right? Right. So at most I’m willing to spend $120 on a sweater, unless it has some sort of detailing I don’t find fun to do, or it’s made of cashmere. Cardigans are lumped into this; coatigans are not.

Hence! I found the Turenne Sweater by Mille Strikker. And, dare I say it? I think the details on this pattern are superior to the one on the inspiration. It’s certainly not the same - but the vibes are there.

I am intending to, at some point, follow the pattern to a T in some sort of a green/pink colourway (something bright and clashing! It’ll be odd, it’ll be beautiful). And then, to satiate the desire for a navy colourway a la the inspiration, make amendments to the pattern such that it gives a block of blue colour that ends right before the bust.