Here’s the thing about knitting (or sewing) your own clothes: You have the opportunity throw in any sort of details and accents you like, when you like, whether it’s a subtle finishing detail like a folded neckband or a pronounced design feature like elbow patches. In the past 24 hours, I’ve run across two different sweaters (top and bottom left) that reminded me of a third (bottom right), all of which employ an incredibly simple but wildly effective trick: a bold stripe of randomness that makes an otherwise simple sweater memorable. At the top is the new kit from Wool and the Gang, the Little Honey Pot Jumper, which poses a wide stripe of rust stockinette against a field of persimmon seed stitch. The origins of the bottom left image are unknown to me (it’s floating around the Internet without context; I happened to see it most recently here), and bottom right is the Chloé Resort 2013 sweater I fawned over back in 2012., both of which use a wide red stripe to make an impact. I particularly love that they all employ a change in texture as well as color, and how bold the size of the stripe is. This goes hand in hand with what I love so much about basic patterns — they’re excellent canvases for pulling fun tricks like this out of the bag and making any garment your own.
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