Projects
It’s a Fair Question
Dear Kay,
When I wrote last week, I was mulling the sweater situation. My handknit sweaters. Was it time for a reckoning?
I decided it was, but it took me five days to get the steam up to move beyond the theoretical contemplation of my sweater collection. I almost punted on this project because it seems like some kind of Swedish death cleaning thing and I am 100% gonna leave every bit of ephemera in this house for my descendants to fool with. I had to do it; they’ll have to do it too. They’ll discover all sorts of stuff about me. Like, they’ll be rooting around and be all “These silver kitten-heeled booties. What was she thinking?”
It was quite the reckoning. A reunion, a nostalgiafest, a Smithsonian Museum of My Handknits. I kept finding stuff, just all sorts of things.
It was pretty much my entire knitting career all dumped onto the bed in a way that made Hubbo at one point timidly say, “Um, at some point we’re gonna need to go to sleep.”
I set out a few clear-cut guidelines for this project.
The first sorting was sweaters versus nonsweaters.
Conclusion: Massively more sweaters than anything else. Which is a surprise, because it feels like I’ve been knitting mostly rectangles since 2002.
Next: a sorting between storebought and handmade.
Conclusion: six times as many handmades, point of pride! Point to mull: there are two dark-gray TJ Maxx “cashmere” crewneck sweaters I wear more than anything else in my wardrobe.
At this point I began looking for a place to park the sweaters so I could get a better look at them. Hubbo was saying things like “Gosh you have so many kinds of sweaters. In here. On the bed. Where we sleep.”
The best landing zone was the kitchen table. The light is good there, and it’s the place where many of these sweaters had their glory moment when I finished making them.
The Reckoning
How many sweaters?
An even three dozen.
Thirty-six handknit sweaters. I had to laugh.
Certain themes emerged, once I sorted them by color.
Six blues.
Six grays. Actually nine but I liked these stacks of six.
Six brownish. Including one obviously blue one but again, it would have made the blue stack seven high and that was no good.
Six potpourri. My color game fell apart at this point. That tangerine Shakerag Top is a real outlier, isn’t it? Wild!
Six more, a Variety Pak. There are those three gray ones, plus a seafoam blue that ought to go in Pile One or maybe to a New York Liberty game.
Six undyed.
They make a prettier wall of knitting than I’d expected. I like all these yarns and in some cases feel very tender about them.
I could sort these by many other factors: Complexity of pattern. Techniques used. Relative importance of yarn choice. Sentimental value. Fit. The way I feel when wearing it. How often I wear it.
Many of these sweaters I have not worn in a long time. The thing is, they aren’t mere clothing to me. They’re all souvenirs of moments in my life, right? I can recall when and where I made these—and the internet will never let me forget the making of them, thanks to the MDK archive that does in fact go waaay back if you’re in the mood for busted links, missing images, and two-inch-wide blurry photos.
What to do now? I have no idea. But I do think that Thanksgiving is coming any day now and I’m going to need that table. The clock is ticking.
Informal survey: how many sweaters do you own? How do you feel about them?
Love,
Ann
What a collection! In my southern hemisphere seasonal rearrangement I had only 2 of about 20 handknit jumpers that I didn’t wear this winter, which I think is a good proportion. So strongly agree, each one isn’t just a piece of clothing but a tangible memory.
Those are incredibly beautiful sweaters!!
I have about 8 hand knitted sweaters in my closet – all very different – which I struggle to wear during the short winters in NYC, that seem to get shorter and warmer every year. Still I keep knitting shawls, vests, cardigans and sweaters. Over the years I have given away many of my creations.
As I think I said in my comment to Ann’s previous post on the subject, it is a modern knitter’s (ethical) dilemma that weighs on me. I personally feel a bit guilty and am compelled to try harder to think about recycling, reuse, gifting, donation, and perhaps channeling my creative urges in a more sustainable direction. In the meantime I just got some beautiful ito yarn for the September 26 virtual workshop with Cecelia Campochiaro on the technique of reversible cables for the Wriley Shawl
i have 2 handknit sweaters and 2 hand knit cardigans in my collection, i wear the sweaters regularly over autumn and winter but haven’t worn either of the cardigans in years – one doesn’t sit quite right on me (i blame the shawl collar) and the other is way too small for me now having been knitted about 17 or 18 years ago (it must be around that because i got back into knitting when my sister-in-law was expecting her first baby and he was 19 last month!)
up to now i haven’t knitted sweaters for myself and maybe i should start – there are loads of single skeins of souvenir sock yarn in my stash that would make marvellous Fade sweaters.
68. I may need help.
Impressive
(I blame Covid. I did a lot of knitting in lockdown)
I’ve never finished a sweater for me but have 1 gift from Peru and 1 from a mail order company and 2 from a local store. My “storage problem” is socks . At any given time I have 30 pair in my rotation. They don’t fit in my drawer so I keep them in a large plastic bag. Oy vez! I recently donated 10 pair so I wouldn’t feel any guilt keeping some of my new creations. I’m giddy with my new ones. Once my donated ones were gone I consoled myself that someone else was enjoying them. Hope this helps. Good luck!
Good on you for donating those socks; I have heard that socks are the most requested item. I now donate most of my knitting. After all, if I spend most of my time knitting, what do I want loads of fancy clothes for?
I have about 4 handmade sweaters (lived in FL most of my life so not much need for sweaters).
I dearly love each sweater .
I only have two handknit sweaters, but a lot of shawls! Shawls do not require German short rows! Now that I live in a very rural area, my shawl-wearing is limited. It basically involves selecting a shawl to wear to the feed mill to pick up chicken scratch.
I do thank you for my morning guffaw, Ann. You had me at “Swedish death cleaning”. And those silver kitten-heeled booties made a second appearance. Even the sorting method made me smile.
The sweaters are so lovely. I am eager to learn what you decide to do….before Thanksgiving. 🙂 Can you include a photo of the booties at some point? Inquiring minds want to see them.
I pulled out all my sweaters for the great spring wash & repair & pack … 3 weeks later I packed up 78 handknit sweaters.
Both alarmed and impressed. It’s a lovely body of work… I’m afraid to look at all the other categories of knitted/crocheted items.
Sweater problem – nope, but don’t ask me about shawls. I have a shawl problem. Really must do an airing because I’ve lived in Florida for the past 6 years and they just sit in clear plastic bins for all but 2 weeks of the year.
At least 20. A red jobbie that’s about 40 years old. Lots of cables, twist stitches, causes in real Ramsey yarn, and a bunch of Shetland Fair Isle yoke things. Gave up making allover Shetland sweaters replete with steeks years ago.
I do donate sweaters to local thrift shops, so somebody gets to wear them when I’m done with them.
Yes to donation, Ruth. It’s a shame to have all that warmth and love sitting unused in a drawer. Let people wear them!
I’m beginning to feel this way about my earring collection. They need to be out in the world.
I’ve amassed quite a collection of sweaters, hats, cardigans, etc over the past 10 years and it may be time for a reckoning here too. I’ll wait to see how your saga unfolds and make my decisions after I return from my vacation (a knitting cruise, hahaha)
I can’t count them all without a lot of effort to put them all in one place, but I feel your pain at letting go. Several of mine should leave to a better home now that I have lost a lot of weight and they don’t fit, but I still want to enjoy the memories of making them.
Can you repurpose sweaters into pillows, bags or blankets instead of keeping them in the closet? This way you can still enjoy them ?!
Take photos put them in a folder and then donate!
Only four, and those all date from before my years-long knitting hiatus. I’ll be okay.
We’re not talking about socks, right? Just sweaters?
Please take care with donations to Chatity/Thrift stores. For a while I worked in one, and the policy was that all handknits went straight to the rag bag. The reason was that all garments on sale must have a care labels, as they have the washing instructions. Eileen X
I counted over 40 last year when asked. But have added since then. Thank you for this!
I’m away from home at the moment (I’m in Canada trying to help pump up the Canadian economy—a sort of personal trade delegation) so I can’t do an official count, but 40 sounds about right. My big question is: so what are you going to do with them all? How long do we have to wait to hear your solution? I need to know.
Oh, wait—I just went to my Ravelry page and counted 91. Holy cow, I need to hear your solution soon.
I posted that 68 was impressive, but the high number keeps going up!
Starting today, I am on the lookout for the armoire with the glass doors to hold my eventual sweater inventory. I don’t have so many right now. Your beautiful display inspires me. I want to be sure I match the variety of your display. I see so many lessons in your “stacks.” Thanks for the effort of the sort and for the sharing of it. If some of them must go, maybe a flipstack?
I’m embarrassed to say over 100. I’ve been knitting sweaters for over 50 years and I love them all. Living in Michigan, I wear most of them…but it is time to share my love of yarn and knitting with others. As I’ve run out of closet storage, you have motivated me to clean a few out and regift–perhaps someone will want to unravel the sweater and repurpose the yarn. I will miss them. Now I knit sweaters for my grandchildren and will continue to do so until they tire of them. I love to knit!
Wow! You take the cake. I’m in awe.
I’m so impressed! I have not yet mustered the courage to attempt to make my first sweater. Your post is inspiring. They are all lovely! I think wear them joyfully or find someone who will….which should not be difficult.
I’ve knit dozens of sweaters. Every year, or two, I get all of them out, refresh them, in batches, with a short tumble in the dryer, check them for needed darning then neatly refold them. After that I sometimes send some to the donation box because I know I will knit more. The keepers go back in tidy stacks sorted by type and how frequently I wear them. I do have a few relics from decades past that go on an upper shelf that requires a step stool to reach.
I just recently moved to a retirement community (and north to a more sweater-friendly state!) and in my version of Swedish Death Cleaning, I did donate some sweaters that just do not fit me anymore at that time and many of the knitted items (but not sweaters – they were all for me!) I’ve knit were gifts to others. Looking on Ravelry just now, I’ve handknit 22 sweaters, 21 cowls, 30 shawls, 5 ponchos and 9 vests over the past 30 years. Also a lot of gnomes, snowmen, necklaces, blankets, hats, socks, bags, scarves and a wallhanging. The handknit garments are sorted, labeled and stored in Container Store plastic tubs up on shelving in my closet and I do get enjoyment looking at the colors and variety of them every morning when I’m getting dressed.
How many friends do you have – invite them over and offer up as a gift, their favorite from your pile – surely they have one or two that have secretly tugged at their heart
I love sweaters and live in a climate where I wear them 2/3 of the year. I am very possessive about them and rarely do I get rid of them. They all hold memories for me. I didn’t knit most of them but many are hand knit, especially the fisherman knit sweaters, my favorites.
All I can say is… Keep them and be proud of your beautiful work! (and maybe never count them again!)
What a joy to read and view.
I’ve been s l o w l y honing my sweater department. Many I don’t wear but can’t bear to . . .
Gotta do it!
Let me help you find a home for your Donegal!
What to do now? Wear them. Establish a rotation of sorts – like wearing one stack at a time, with each item in the stack worn 3x, then stored in a sweater bag. That’s my plan for the multitude of makes I have stacked up. All meant to be enjoyed and those not so – passed on to a new wearer.
Bottom line: aren’t you glad you made them? I sure am happy to see my collection and the life history knitted between the stitches.
I love this. Every time I go into the sweaters, mourn the ones I got rid of, sort through my woven and handspun things, ……I just can’t do it.
Not alone in this feels good.
I have maybe 5 or 6 handknit sweaters, and about the same number of RTW sweaters, which- in total- is about 8 sweaters too many for Texas winters.
I think the question at hand here is “how would you feel if one of them were gone?”. I once had a sweater called Big Blue. It was the coziest sweater ever, knit by me in Brown Sheep Bulky and worn by dozens of people over it’s lifespan. I still remember the first time I wore it. It was for Thanksgiving in Vermont and my dad, very strangely, was suddenly very interested in what kind of yarn I liked to work with it. A few weeks later, I found why. He had found a yarn shop in Vermont and gotten me a lovely assortment of yarn for my birthday of all different weights and he was panicking because he was afraid I only liked bulky yarn. He always got the best gifts–the man bought Noro without being told to so you get the idea–and all was well in the end.
Big Blue ended up living in my office. It was a beautiful old building in a great deal of disrepair and it was always cold and drafty. Big Blue was a fan favorite and was loved by all but, at the end of the day, it always came home to the back of my chair. Until it didn’t. I didn’t notice on the first day but on the second day, I had a Miss Clavell moment. It’s the highlight of Madeline when she wakes up and says “something is not right.” Well something was not right. Big Blue was gone. I worked at the time with a crazy woman who fixated on stealing things out of my office. My water glass, my plant, my watering can, anything she could get her hands on all disappeared. She stole Big Blue and threw her in the dumpster which had been picked up in the morning. I am clearly still not over it and if I ever know the date of the day I will die, I will invite her for dinner the night before and serve her poison mushrooms. In a nice risotto.
Wow!!
Current inventory is under a dozen, did my own clean out/donation last year. None are handmade; maybe this will be the year? Lived NE of Seattle for 12 years and could wear sweaters almost 9 months of the year.
If you’re thinking of putting TJ Maxx sweaters in donation stack maybe hang onto one for those fall garden cleanup projects!
Can we count the ones that aren’t finished yet?
In 2012 I started recording my output in Ravelry, on my profile page. I knit 24 sweaters/year for 4 years (most for me) and then dropped down to 19, 16, 11 and 10 for the next 4. I have knit over 200 sweaters plus blankets, 59 Christmas stockings, some socks and some gnomes. I am happy to report that although I knit most days, I also hike or exercise most days (something I didn’t do in the early knitting years). Last year I gave 40 sweaters to my sisters-in-law and nieces. I wear a sweater almost every day (it’s cold in my house in the summer) and have 2 more on the needles now. Can you say “addiction”? I laughed, because at the bottom of the comments page is the MDK “Need Help?” button. Maybe.
Well, yes, the sweater collection is impressive and the project admirable, but your writing, Ann… It’s hilarious!
Di you include cardigans in this reckoning or were they considered sacred?
You could always unknit your least-liked sweaters into skeins and reknit. My British mother and her mother did this once a handknit sweater was showing signs of wear or was simply not worn any more.
I made a baby pink and blue pullover when I was in my teens in acrylic yarn….awful. I’ve just started back into sweater knitting….made a gorgeous blue cardigan in superwash merino….big mistake….need to make it shorter so there’s less weight….and I have the yarn for three more sweaters in my queue. And I’m eyeing donegal tweed at the LYS…..
My problem is with shawls too….I don’t think I will ever be done with knitting them…lol
One sweater for each daughter when they were 6-7-ish. One baby sweater which they shared (babies are quite time-consuming and they grow quickly). An oversize cardigan which I made for myself in high school and unraveled in college to make something else which never got finished (it was the ’70’s; who had time?). And one which is still in the making and will be unraveled and reworked because I realized only when I reached the bind off that I didn’t account for ease. Knitting is more of a journey for me than a destination.
At least 40 sweaters of which 20 are handknit. Don’t even get me started on the number of handknit lace shawls I’ve got here. I live in the Houston, TX area (not exactly a hotbed for handknit woolen wear). Thank goodness I get chilled easily so that I DO wear my sweaters year-round. I continue to find it hard to resist starting another neat sweater design. I consider it part of my “knitter’s mental health regimen.”
What a great collection, Ann!
I probably have at least 30 handknit sweaters, I will have to count. I’ve been trying to knit for my teen, but she moved to a college dorm and couldn’t take many sweaters with her… sigh.
This summer I did a really good job of wearing my dresses. Every time I wore something, I turned the hanger around, and that helped. I am going to use a similar strategy for the sweaters- keep them in visual range at all times and turn them around in the pile once worn. We are due for cold weather soon. Can I say I am sick of the high humidity in the Twin Cities? Ugh. Bring on the sweater weather!