Author Archives: Karen Templer

Faux Fall outfits!

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Faux Fall outfits!

This is 30 days of outfits, fashioned from a total of 27 garments and 5 pair of shoes. (See the closet inventory for details.) There are also probably another 10-15 to be had simply by swapping out, say, one of my other two camisoles for the green one pictured, or a different pair of the wide-leg pants in nearly any scenario. These also range from not really warm at all (fine at the moment) to too warm if there’s really no cooling trend in the next 30 days, but I think I’ve given myself a fair chance of not having to think about getting dressed until the end of October. And with the light layers and sweater vests and closed shoes, and a little bit of sleeve action in there, most of these outfits do give me at least a hint of that Fall feeling. Hopefully that will keep me content until actual sweater weather arrives! (Although I should note that 6 of these involve the faded old jeans that are currently at Indigo Proof, so those combos are fictional until the jeans come home to roost.)

I believe there are only 5 garments here that have not factored into previous rounds of Closet Rummy™, and 2 first-appearance pairs of shoes (although one of those is just a replacement pair of white sneakers, so not exactly a paradigm shift), and yet I think there are only 2 or 3 outfits out of the 30 here that I’ve ever worn in these exact combinations, and then only once. It’s not that I’m averse to repeating outfits within a span of a season or whatever — this summer I’ve basically worn the same five outfits over and over and over again — but this is really the central challenge of a slow-turnover closet for me: forever finding new ways to put the same things together, as I am a person who is easily bored and who also finds joy and creativity in getting dressed.

Faux Fall outfits!

One of my favorite things about this exercise is that, once I have a given set of garments laid out in a grid like I do, I can see things I never would have thought of. Like in the top row up there: a Wiksten Kimono + Fen Top twin set! We’ll see if I ever actually wear it, but it amuses me greatly. And the more I’ve done this, the easier it is to also just glance at the grid and spot combinations without needing to actually spell every one of them out like this.

I’ve had a lot of questions lately about how I do this, and I truly have found it to be the most beneficial thing in understanding my closet and choosing more wisely about what to add and subtract from it, so I’ll dedicate a whole blog post to it during Slow Fashion October.

Faux Fall outfits!

PREVIOUSLY in Fall 2018 Wardrobe: Not-quite Fall closet inventory

Not-quite Fall closet inventory

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Not-quite Fall closet inventory

As much as I wish it were the onset of Sweater Weather here, I’m trying to be super realistic this year and just straight up accept that it will likely be late October before I can put on an actual sweater. So rather than taunt myself by including pullovers and cardigans in my not-quite-fall inventory, I’m pretending for the moment that they don’t even exist. What I can do now is start in on some lighter and/or sleeveless layering and switch (mostly) from sandals to closed shoes, and those little tweaks will at least make me feel like there’s a progression happening. I’m thinking of it as Sweater Vest Weather. If the temperatures do drop, I’ll be pleasantly surprised and will have no trouble reaching for the sweaters! Otherwise, you won’t see them here until I get to do winter-ish outfits (but if you care to see them in the meantime, I did a full sweater inventory last month right here).

I alluded yesterday to the idea that I’m organizing Slow Fashion October this year around the process of assessing, editing and (re)building a slow closet, and for the sake of this inventory and my need to change things up a bit, I’ve jumped ahead and pulled a few new/old items from the periphery of my closet to breathe some new life into the things I’ve been wearing ad nauseum.

That said, I’m holding off creating any kind of Make list until I’ve completed the deeper dive that’s about to happen. Right now, I’m all about what I already own. So above are the 33 garments that will form the backbone of my wardrobe for this in-between moment and beyond. It’s quite late at night as I’m putting this together, so I only have time to highlight the few recent or resurfaced things. For details on the rest of the items, please scroll back through the closet inventory archive.

ROW 1

— Khaki cotton blazer (J.Crew c. 2009)
— Black cotton kimono sweater (Elizabeth Suzann, sample sale 2017, no longer available)
— Blue striped kimono jacket (2018)

For ages, a blazer was my favorite kind of garment in all the world — I wore one nearly every day. When I moved cross-country I donated most of them to Dress for Success and kept only two, one of which I’m suddenly eager to dust off and start wearing again. I’ve also decided to hang onto the previously debated Elizabeth Suzann kimono sweater thingie and give it a chance. Many are the times when I was unconvinced about something and wound up addicted to it, and since it’s already in my possession I feel like I should try. If that doesn’t happen, I know there are plenty of people who’d like to give it a good home. And I’ve also decided to let my pajama-y Wiksten Kimono (which I lovingly refer to as “my housecoat”) leave the house. It’s the lightest imaginable layering piece and gives me a hint of that fall feeling without creating any real warmth.

ROW 2

Second from the left is the ES Clyde jacket I refashioned into a vest in May, and far right is the State Smock that was white in previous inventories but I indigo dyed at Squam in June.

ROW 4

Second from the left is an Everlane sleeveless tee that I screenprinted under the tutelage of Jen Hewett in SF last week. The op art is an old piece of my husband’s, and there’s a second one with a cactus drawing on it so both will turn up in future outfits. (They’re not likely to be white for long, but it’ll be great while it lasts.)

ROW 7

Left is the linen-cotton pants I made a couple weeks ago, and center are my tissue-thin old beloved jeans that have now made their way into the queue at Indigo Proof, for those of you on the edges of your seats about that! (Or is that just me?!) They’ll be back with me soon, shored up except for the giant hole in the thigh, so that one will have to be patched, but I’ll be able to wear them again!

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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Spring ’18 Mood and Strategy

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Fall ’18 wardrobe planning: Mood and strategy

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Fall ’18 wardrobe planning: Mood and strategy

I’m not really sure what we’re in for. Officially, calendar-wise, Fall is here. The trees in Nashville are getting a tiny bit droopy and the temps have dropped into the upper 70s, but the humidity is as high as ever. So it’s cool and sticky, is what I’m saying. It feels as if actual sweater weather is still a long ways away, but I’m thinking about how to bust out of my boring summer uniform and trick myself into thinking it’s fall, even when the weather isn’t about to cooperate. Which means, of course, I’ve started a Fall ’18 Mood board.

This particular mood board is a bit of an oddball, as it won’t likely convey to any viewer what it does to me. My mood isn’t nearly as colorless as this board, for one thing, which is more about shapes and accents and ideas for ways to combine things. (Color-wise, I’ll be hanging onto the blues and army and spot of orange you’ve been seeing the past couple of seasons.) As always, though, I’m in the mood for loose, comfortable, easygoing clothes, along with an unexpected detail, some last-minute sandal action giving way to oxfords and loafers. And I’m thinking a lot about volume. And that dickey. What the board doesn’t convey is that my faux fall wardrobe plan will involve all of the vests and smocks — basically a still-sleeveless layer on top of my summer uniform — so I’ll get into all of that as I take inventory and start putting together some new outfits with my same old clothes.

But I’ve also been mining my closet for a few “new” old things with which to change things up. We’re only a week out from the start of Slow Fashion October, and I’ll tell you at this point that what I have planned for this year is a very action-oriented month. We can debate definitions and so on all you want, but I know I’m in need of a proper full-closet assessment and responsible clean-out, and I know many of you are too. So I’m partially doing my normal wardrobe planning steps this week and partially jumping the gun on what I’ll be inviting you all into starting next week! More on all of that will be revealed …

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PREVIOUSLY in Wardrobe Planning: Packing a mixed bag for the Cities by the Bay

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I Know What You Missed Last Summer

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I Know What You Missed Last Summer

Now that we’re all settling back into our knitting chairs, putting summer behind us, I thought it might be good to take a minute to point up some of the highlights from the past three months here on the ol’ blog — in case you missed anything really good (if I say so myself) while you were out enjoying the warm weather and long days!

There was the whole of Summer of Basics, with three rounds of inspiring prize winners to check out: Round 1 (the planners); Round 2 (the WIPs) and Round 3 (the finished goods). My own SoB-3 didn’t turn out quite like I expected, but great nevertheless! (Plus my aran-gansey, which I finished on Labor Day.)

I offered a peek inside my mini bullet journal.

Sewed a sweatshirt (almost correctly!) and took it to Squam.

Then I took an epic trip to Portugal — Portuguese knitting, hand-spinning (photo above),  a wool mill and sheep blessing … Definitely don’t miss the sheep blessing.

I interviewed Brooke Sinnes about single-breed yarns and her US Cormo in particular.

Revealed the other sweater Meg gave me — you won’t believe it.

Shared a video version of my folded neckband tutorial, which you’ll find anytime saved at the top of the @fringesupplyco Instagram profile (the written version is here)

Took stock of my entire sweater inventory as it stands, with notes about what NOT to knit next!

And of course, you’ve got about a dozen New Favorites to scroll through!

What’s on the horizon for fall into winter? We talked about that, too!

Summer also saw the release of the “Bury me with yarn and needles …” tote bag and the Jen Hewett “Hank” Field Bag, the butterscotch Porter Bin and the new canvas drawstring bag. I hope you didn’t miss any of those!

And if you have FOMO about what else you might have missed, you can always use the little dropdown in the right rail over there to skip back to any particular month of the blog archive and give it a scroll at your own pace.

Happy Equinox! Thank you for spending your time here, and I hope you have an amazingly restorative weekend. I’ll be unpacking from my SF trip, happy to be home …

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Knit the Look: the mini Guernsey Literary Society henley

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Knit the Look: the mini Guernsey Literary Society henley

If you’ve seen the Netflix adaptation of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society (which is not quite as twee as the title suggests), you know it’s chock full of sweaters. No ganseys, oddly, given that it’s set on Guernsey, and it’s a little confusing whose sweaters look possibly handknit and whose definitely don’t, but we’ll leave that aside. The point is: sweaters! The thrust of the story is that a pretty young London writer visits a group of book-loving strangers on the isle of Guernsey, which is still reeling from the Nazi occupation. She is a first-rate packer. Although she’s meant to be there a night or two, her mix-and-match travel wardrobe carries her through a longer stay: tweed trousers and skirt, three or four pretty silk blouses with big collars, two sweater vests, a pullover with a little Peter Pan collar, a pretty great blue-marl cardigan, a brown suede jacket and a brown garter-stitch beret are all she needs, with just a pair of borrowed workpants for when she’s helping her unanticipated love interest with his pigs. (Oh, surely you can see that coming!) For my money, though, the kids and the men get all the best sweaters. Best of all being the tattered henley pictured on the little girl, Kit, above.

There are weirdly few images from the movie on the internet, and they’re all of the woven garments, despite the fact that every single character except the military fiancé wears multiple sweaters in the film. I mean, too many cardigans to even begin to count. (There may be more Knit the Looks about these.) But that’s why all I have for you is an iPhone photo of my laptop screen, and you’ll have to trust my eye and memory on the rest.

So about this little pullover, which obviously I want in my size and minus the post-occupation tatters: It’s just a mushroom colored, boxy little henley but what makes it interesting, as always, are the details. The sleeves are ribbed but it appears to be garter rib, which would be less bunchy to wear and also features strongly on a few other of the movie’s sweaters. There are two little chest pockets also in rib. (It makes me think of Marshal, in some ways.) But what really seals it is that henley placket that runs right down to the waist ribbing. To emulate it, you could use the free ’80s-era pattern from Drops known poetically as 4-24. Knit the sleeves in garter rib and fashion a couple of chest patch pockets to match, and instead of working the placket opening a few inches shy of the neck, start it just above the waist ribbing. (And refrain from inserting shoulder pads as Drops appears to have done!) The pattern is written for bulky, so I’m recommending Harrisville’s lovely tweedy Turbine yarn in Driftwood, but it would also be easy to adapt that pattern to a lighter gauge.

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PREVIOUSLY in Knit the Look: The Crown’s cardigans

Hot Tip: Swap your needle tips

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Hot Tip: Swap your needle tips

The first Hot Tip I ever posted was about using two different-size needle tips if knitting on interchangeable needles. When you’re knitting in the round, you only use one end of the needle for making stitches, and the other end is essentially just a stitch holder, and it’s easier to work the stitches off of a smaller tip. Many of you responded at the time that you also mismatch your needle tips for working flat to make up for gauge differences between knit and purl rows, which I found completely fascinating and sensible! (Bonus tip!) And then on Instagram over the weekend, I saw a whole ’nother angle on this from my friend Veronika of YOTH Yarns.

Ve is knitting what appears to be a cardigan with the body knitted in one piece, flat, so she’s got about 48″ worth of stitches on a long circular needle, and she’s working a lot of cable crosses on top of that, which causes her wrist strain. To help with the strain, she puts a smaller needle tip on the left end (or non-working tip end) of her interchangeable and the proper gauge needle on the working end, again making it easier for her to work the stitches (and especially the cables) off the smaller tip. That does mean every time she gets to the end of a row and is ready to start back the other direction, she has to swap out her needle tips. Seems tedious, yet according to her wrists it’s well worth taking the 30 seconds to do. But on top of that, she had a really clever tip for how to simplify that process, which you can kind of see in my screengrab of her video above. She slides the needle key doohickey through the hole in both tips at the same time, unscrews one, unscrews the other, then screws them back on in opposite positions. Like most great tips in life, that seems so obvious now that I’ve seen it!

Ve is a fount of stuff like this, so make sure you’re following her on Instagram @yarnonthehouse. Thanks, Ve!

p.s. If you’re not using interchangeables, I highly recommend them, and we stock the Lykke Driftwood beauties at Fringe Supply Co. If you’re reluctant to commit to a full set without trying them, I always suggest buying a pair or two of needle tips in your most-used sizes (which means you’ll want extras of them regardless) and a couple of cords. Then if you like them, you can either build a collection of the sizes you use, or invest in a set, which really does pay off quickly. Says the person who bought an ungodly number of fixed circs in her first couple years of knitting …

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PREVIOUSLY in Hot Tips: Allow for adjustments

New Favorites: Those collars

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New Favorites: Those collars

There are two new cardigan patterns in the world that are making me reevaluate my (eternally conflicted) position on this kind of collar — does it have a name?

TOP: Ridgeline Wrap Cardigan by Purl Soho caused my jaw to hit the desk when I opened the newsletter. In this case, the big wide collar also comes with that cascading front action that I’m normally slightly allergic to, but somehow here the whole thing just works beautifully — and is such a perfect marriage of yarn and garment, too.

BOTTOM: Henning by Mary Anne Benedetto is a dramatic cardigan of swooping cables, with an even more dramatic collar, and looks like so much fun to knit. The thing is, it could be either super cozy or super irritating. I absolutely love it in this photo and want it to be just as it looks here, properly seated around her shoulders, but the other photos make it look like might be a slip-slider, so I’m hoping for a chance to try on the sample one day!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: Way back to school sweaters