Let Me Explain

Anyone who has browsed my Ravelry projects may have noticed that I like to name the sweaters I knit for myself after songs. This fun topic has not yet been treated on my blog because all the sweaters I knit last year were either not for me or named in honor of our awesome cross-country trip last summer. Today's sweater brings me back to my happy ritual.

It was probably best that I didn't knit any sweaters for myself that required song names this past year because  I was often too busy to spend much time with my music! Three of my favorite bands came out with new albums in the spring or summer and I didn't get any of them until I had the presence of mind to ask John to buy them for me for Christmas. Loads of travel time reacquainted me with my favorite music, Patrick Wolf in particular. I was absolutely taken by his lonesome album The Bachelor when I was lonesome a couple years ago and now I'm absolutely enamored of his new lovey-dovey album Lupercalia because I'm in love too (and because the name makes me a super Classicist nerd)! That's not to say I don't still love The Bachelor a lot. Wolf is an amazing artist.


When I pick a song to name a sweater, sometimes it's a favorite song that I can't get out of my head, but mostly I try to imagine how I want to feel when I am wearing that sweater. Because I have an emotional connection and reaction to every song, I pick the one that makes me feel how I want to feel in the sweater I'm knitting! This should explain a little better:

The City

Pattern: #24 Ruffled Cardigan by Faith Hale in Vogue Knitting Spring/Summer 2009

Yarn: Feza Mesmerize in Silver

Needles: US 4

Project page

Pardon my terrible photos, I was in a hurry. I have been crazy about this sweater since I bought the magazine three years ago. There are a lot of great patterns in it. I've made two and a half. I wear one a lot, gave one away out of shame, and am ignoring the half for now. Given that history, I was a little apprehensive about making this one. I can make it fit (unlike the shameful one), but can I make it something I'll wear fairly often? I hope so.

The other trouble I had getting started on it was the yarn. It calls for Tilly Thomas Disco Lights, which would have made this a $200 sweater. No thanks. The yarn is amazing, though. We just got it at the shop. As luck would have it, I happened upon Feza Mesmorize in our own shop and thought instantly of this sweater, even though I had deleted it from my queue and tried to forget about it long before. I think it is a really great substitution. The yarn isn't my favorite, but if you want something shiny and reasonably-priced, definitely go for it. Don't knit too fast or carelessly, though, because once you split it, it snags like nobody's business! I'm really digging the halo, on the plus side, and it's super soft.

I had hoped this would be a New Year's sweater, but it's turned into my birthday sweater. Next year I may have to rock it on New Year's Eve, though. It's shiny! and ruffly! If I can find the right brooch, it'll also be sparkly! And I can dance like a manic in it! This is where the song comes in. Patrick Wolf is shiny, sparkly, often ruffly, and fun to dance to. I chose "The City" because it's super cute, but it's the kind of song I'd dance to in this sweater, it makes me warm and fuzzy and hopeful inside, and the song has a sort of resolution feel to it, which fits in with my New Year's vision of this sweater. See for yourself:

For my mods, see the project page.

Other song-themed sweaters: His Girl Friday (the first), Starry Stair (the Vogue pattern I wear a lot), Love is Like a Bottle of Gin (my most famous), "I Tried the Light Therapy from the Xerox Machine", Cutie Pie, So to Sing Along, Mama, I Saw the Stars Tonight (another Patrick Wolf), You Gonna Fly, Close to Me, 

For more FO Friday posts, visit Tami's Amis!