Yes, plain. That’s what it is if you’re honest about it. No embellishments, no special pattern, just the most simple construction. But that’s also exactly what I wanted. I was hoping to find myself a basic pattern that I can build on in time.
And that’s just what I got. It fits perfectly, and I’m already contemplating stitch patterns around the collar and things like that. I could also make it a lot shorter and have a cute sweater to wear with a skirt or jeans (or shorts).
In the next picture, you have to imagine me wearing leggings and a long-sleeved shirt underneath. (Also, feel free to imagine my hips are thinner in reality than they look in this picture – I do). It’s 100% wool, so it was hot enough to wear just the sweater for a few short minutes to take these pictures. I couldn’t get myself motivated to dress up for the full look.
I think it does look great as a dress without them too, but I can’t wear it here. Too hot. It will be one of my ‘when in Holland’ outfits.
On a side note: it took me incredibly long to take this picture of myself wearing the dress. I almost gave up, but then I found out that I could lean my camera on the books in the (still mostly empty) guest room, just before my battery died. So this will have to do, bad lighting, blurry, cut off feet and all. It’s the best I can do.
I need a tripod. Or a big mirror.
Okay, I could also ask T. to take these shots, but he hates that fake smile, so he’ll wait for me to really laugh and get all wrinkly. And he doesn’t have the patience, or the time, to help me find a pose that doesn’t make me look fat, so that would leave me with pictures that I wouldn’t want to post on the internet and then he would say ‘but that’s how you look’ and I would… Never mind. Not going to ask him.
Goodness. Being a blogger isn’t easy 😉
Second side note: I have never knit larger garments with real wool, so I didn’t get the whole blocking thing. Blocking synthetic yarn doesn’t really make a difference (though I sometimes wash my knitting on a quick cycle to even out stitches).
But this was real wool. There were a few stains on it, so I soaked the sweater to get those out before taking pictures of it. And then I laid it out flat on a towel to dry, which is basically what blocking is.
Well… wow! It was like magic. The whole thing looked so much better after blocking.
People, if you knit with wool you really need to block!