Last week, my friend Meg and I were at a dinner party at a semi-fancy restaurant. We were seated at opposite ends of a long table and I heard almost nothing of what was said down there all night … except at some point I became suddenly very tuned into Meg saying something about how she never wears the Big Rubble sweater she knitted several years ago (and later modified to a crewneck). You probably don’t remember me going on about this one back then, or more specifically, about how I wanted to be the kid in the kids’ version. Anyway, it was like one of those scenes in a movie where the protagonist is in the middle of some crowded, noisy scene and the camera zeroes in on their ear, which is isolating a single voice from among the din. Or maybe I have some kind of knitter’s sonar. Whatever, I heard her say it. Naturally what happened next is I politely shouted to the other end of the table “CAN I HAVE IT?” Being the best friend a girl could ask for — and a knitter who doesn’t like to see her efforts go to waste — she shouted back “YEAH.” After which I asked for another sweater from her collection, which she also said yes to and I’ll tell you about later.
There had been some drinking, and we’re both pretty silly, so I wasn’t sure whether these sweaters were really going to come into my possession. But when I walked into Fringe HQ a couple of snow days later, there they were on my table. That was Thursday. I got home Thursday afternoon and tried it on. Left it on with my pj pants for the evening. Wore it to work Friday, around the house all weekend, and to work again yesterday. Love. It.
The funny thing is, this is not the sort of garment I would ever have counseled myself to wear, or would ever have actually knitted — the wide elbow sleeves are the sort of thing I might think looks funky and cute on someone else but would expect to drive me bonkers. And this shape on my frame? No. But it’s just so pleasant to have on! Despite not having exactly gotten dressed or made up yesterday, I took a quick selfie (above) and Instagram polled it, and 90% of people chose “wear it everywhere” over “only with pj’s,” so I guess the moral of the story is we don’t always know what’s right for us.
No matter, I’m happy to have this light and cozy thing in my life. I like it even better tossed over my shoulders or wrapped around my neck, which makes it perfect for travel. The shape of it means it can be thrown on over just about anything — including my shapeless black silk Elizabeth Suzann Artist Smock (no longer available?!) — but won’t go under anything other than my ES cocoon coat, which has basically the exact same sleeves. (Maybe an inch longer.) So it’ll be most useful during the thaw, on the sort of days where it’s barely too warm for a coat but you still never know whether you’ll be wearing your sweater, pulling it off and throwing it around your neck, or vacillating between the two. In other words, expect to see me in it at Squam next June, and pretty much everywhere in between.
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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Deep Winter outfits
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