West End Girl

Sweater: West End Girl by some designer named Yelena Dasher; Black Trillium Fibres Pebble Worsted in Bright Rose
Skirt 1: J. Crew felted wool skirt; similar styles at Ann Taylor, Madewell, and T by Alexander Wang
Skirt 1: J Crew fluted mini skirt; several similar styles at ASOS including in chartreuse, purple, and hot pink, as well as a more versatile winter white at Nordstrom
Boots: Manolo Blahnik; I'm going to be honest - there is nothing out there right now like these boots which I bought from an online consignment store, however if you'd like to dream big with me, these Gucci low boots are amazing!
Lip 1: Bobbi Brown high shimmer lip gloss in Hot
Lip 2: Make Up Forever Rouge Artist natural in N31, Soft Fushia (sic)

Can you tell I had fun shooting these photos?

I saw a really cute, slightly cropped sweater by Acne last year that worked a lattice across the front and had really deep ribbing. Like a lot of capital-F fashion, it wasn't super accessible to people who aren't fashion bloggers, but I dug the lattice, and I dug the wild electric mint green it was worked in. Fast forward to seeing some of the Black Trillium Fibres bright rose shade and an idea was born. This process was not without hiccups, however, as it was my first time charting a pattern at all, and definitely my first time trying to apply a motif across multiple sizes in a way that would preserve the feel while making the sweater available to a range of people.

But I had some truly amazing and intrepid test knitters and the yarn, which I know I gush about a lot, is just ridiculously awesome (I know I'm not supposed to buy more yarn, but I am heartily tempted to get myself another SQ of this). I'm really proud of the sweater and I think it has looked wonderful on the testers which also makes me happy - the idea that people would volunteer their time and yarn and not end up with a sweater they love keeps me up at night.

Ok, so let's talk fun styling. It's a hot pink sweater. It's so outrageous, it's almost a neutral. Yes, it's fine with the grey wool skirt, but it totally works with the chartreuse one, and I also have a traffic cone orange skirt I think I'll wear it with. As for the metallic grey knee-high boots, they were a ridiculous deal (albeit used), and they fit perfectly, and I simply couldn't leave them on the site for someone else to grab. Will I wear them as often as I wear my knee-high black boots? No. Am I absolutely ecstatic that they have joined the family? Yes. Hair and makeup were also a blast for these photos. Whether I went with mod or pop, the sweater just encouraged theatricality, so I hope you find the results as amusing as I do.

And I really do think this would make a great Christmukah present to yourself - grab a SQ, take some of your time off to curl up with a sweater WIP, and show me your FO sometime next year!

Looking Ahead, Part 1

Here's why it's been quiet:
1. Thanksgiving vacation - it could have been better though I am tan
2. SICK AS A DOG
3. Sweater outfit photographed (on only day last week I didn't look full on ebola-ridden), but designer hasn't released it yet so no looksies

However, with the year about to end, I can start ruminating on next year and the outfits that will be.

I will be finishing my neon cabled sweater design today, barring something unexpected. For those who don't know it will be this color pink

with an allover cable pattern. In a perfect world, this weekend will have a day where photos can be taken because I have plans for shots with my super flared distressed Alice + Olivia jeans

and with a mini skirt and these soon-to-be-arriving second-hand Manolo Blahnik

silver boots.

When that has been dealt with, I will immediately cast on Linda Marving's Cable Round Sweater

which I hope to bang out before the January 2 deadline. I'll be using some Plucky Trusty in In The Navy. On that topic, I'd like to inform people that Paypal has recently extended their dispute window to 180 days. Since the shipping times for orders from The Plucky Knitter traditionally skirted the 45-day window for disputes, I was extremely wary, on principle, of purchasing from the pre-order updates; now I can feel a little better about participating, which I did, on Friday, by grabbing 2 SQs and a single skein for a hat. I haven't decided how I will initially style the sweater yet, though I do have a vintage skirt that might do nicely.

Then, remember this woman?

Well my interpretation of this sweater is also OTN as we speak in the ridiculous Astral Bath Spectra DK (which I adore and am so ecstatic I have a custom SQ on order). This sweater will, eventually, go with everything I own, but I am particularly eager to wear it with my Reformation Calico skirt

and possibly booties. I'm crazy like that.

That should more than round out 2014. We'll talk about 2015 later.

Follow Friday | September 19

I am wearing this sweater today, but I was incredibly late getting out of the house so I don't have a current photo, but I did want to show you the sweater because it gives me an excellent segue into today's Follow.

The sweater is Telluride Aran by Amy Herzog which I took the liberty of knitting in the round and modifying because I find her armscyes, as written, aren't a good match to my body; however, with these slight mods, this sweater turned out to be one of my best fitting sweaters and the inspiration to do many, MANY more cabled sweaters this winter. The yarn, however, is what we're going to concentrate on today. It's Pebble Worsted by Black Trillium Fibres and I discovered the brand through Happy Knits, which is, by the way, one of the nicest online shops out there (they also exist in person, but in Oregon where I do not live). The colorway is Moon Shadow and it is a perfect navy. I say "a" perfect navy, not "the" perfect navy because I have learned during my search for navy perfection that there can be more than one. If the perfection of the color was not enough (and it is), the perfection of how the yarn knits up would quell any dissenters. I am heartily in love with it and don't understand why I only have one additional SQ lurking in stash (and it shouldn't be lurking because I want it to be a sweater now, it just has to wait its turn in my increasingly traffic jammed queue of projects).

While this is a small platform from which I can bloviate, I do want to call out Melanie on one thing in particular that I find sadly non-universal in our little crafting world: I placed a custom order for my second SQ and Melanie charged me a deposit. Let me repeat that: a deposit. Not the full amount of money on the trust that someone with whom I had not done business before would make good, but a deposit that meant if something went awry, neither of us would be screwed in the process (or, if you're a glass half empty kinda person, both of us would be a little screwed). Melanie conducts her business in a way that pretty much GUARANTEES repeat business. It certainly will guarantee mine (and I may have just stumbled onto something I want to design and immediately knew I wanted to do it in Pebble Worsted, so I do smell an order coming shortly). I have been a small business owner and I understand that margins can be very very very tight. That sucks. What sucks more is expecting your customers to float you money. No real businesses do that. If you pre-ordered an iPhone6, Apple didn't charge you on the day you ordered it; Apple charged you on the day it shipped you your phone. Which, by the way, is the law. Anything else is a ponzi scheme because you're floating a business money it will likely use to fulfill someone else's order. That might work for Social Security, but it doesn't fly in commerce. Even those late-night TV ads for the Ab Smasher or the Mega Chopper Xtreme don't charge your card when you order. So Melanie's stock went up tremendously in the instant she didn't ask for money for a product not ready to ship. I'd like to see everyone else in the industry adopt this practice, and I have started to tailor my shopping habits to supporting those who are operating within the letter and spirit of the law.