I’m going to say I’m at a loss for words and then proceed to write quite a lot of them, but I guess what I mean is that I’m not in possession of the right words to describe what the Top-Down Knitalong has been like. I’ve talked a lot about the amazing attitudes on display, but the variety and creativity is also well and truly remarkable. Participants have ranged from sweater novices to sweater aficionados who’d never done top-down to published sweater-pattern designers scratching a creative itch. The sweaters run the gamut from classic stockinette pullovers to elaborate colorwork and cables, and in every shape and proportion imaginable. (Check out the clever construction on this and this, for example.) And the stories! The sweater designed by her 10-y-o; the dude who said “I would totally wear this” and is getting one of his own; the top-down dog sweater; great-grandma’s yarn … If I were to try to post a highlight reel here, it would be hundreds of sweaters long — truly every single sweater deserves acclaim, and the whole thing is such a reward for time spent perusing it, both on Instagram and on Ravelry. Alas, I have two final bonus prizes to award, and picking them was both simple and impossible.
Above is the honey-colored cable sweater by Kelsey, who is @kelseyknits on Instagram and kelseyknits on Ravelry. She was so excited about her swatches she cast on a couple days early and has been one of the stars of the show ever since. There haven’t been many days when her latest pic wasn’t in the Top Posts section of the #fringeandfriendsKAL2016 feed, so in love has everyone been with her progress. She’s said she wanted to get outside her comfort zone with both the color and the deployment of the cable patterns on her top-down raglan, and I’d say it paid off! Kelsey, you’ve won 7 skeins of Father from YOTH Yarns, gorgeous US-grown and -milled Rambouillet, in the in-stock color of your choosing. Drop me an email at contact@fringesupplyco.com and we’ll discuss how to get it to you!
And the remaining prize goes to Orlane, who is @tete_beche on Instagram and orlane on Ravelry (and the creator of the Textured Shawl Recipe I’ve knitted three times and explicated here). Orlane’s sweater is undeniably beautiful, but it gets better and better the more you know and the closer you look. She’s French and used some gorgeous farmy yarn from Brittany, one skein of which she avocado-dyed. She smartly didn’t start the colorwork until just below the neck join, then stuck with simple geometric repeats centered within the stitch counts between the raglans. My favorite detail, though, is not just the folded hem (which I’m totally into right now) but the fact that she gave it a striped facing. It’s amazing from start to finish. Orlane, you’ve won the 15 skeins of small-batch California-grown Range from A Verb for Keeping Warm in your choice of Lighthouse and/or Quartz colorways! Please email me at contact@fringesupplyco.com with your choice and mailing address!
Both have amazing IG feeds and tons more pics of their sweaters all along the way, so make sure you click through and check them out.
I want to say a huge thanks again to all of our prize donors: Shibui, Purl Soho, Brooklyn Tweed, O-Wool, Woolfolk, Kelbourne Woolens, A Verb for Keeping Warm and YOTH Yarns. You’ve been amazingly generous!
And I want to congratulate all of the WIP of the Week winners and, truly, every single person who took on this challenge. The knitalong doesn’t end here — all four panelists are still knitting and so are countless others — so keep using that #fringeandfriendsKAL2016 tag to share. If you’re following my tutorial, please link your Ravelry project to the Improv sweater pattern page so I can see. And I want to say again I’m truly so inspired and in awe of all of you. You’ve taught me so much about being a brave and determined knitter, and you’ve done the knitting community proud with all of the support and advice and camaraderie you’ve provided each other along the way. It’s been an honor! And I mean it: keep it coming! (I’ll do my best to keep up, but Slow Fashion October also starts tomorrow! So please understand I’ll be juggling.)
SHOP NEWS
We’ve got some really fun stuff in the webshop today: bling, canvas cleaner, canvas wax, and even a small number of Field Bags to apply them all to! (More next week, universe willing.) Click through for details on all of those items, since this post has gone on long enough!
Happy weekend, everyone — see you tomorrow here and over at @slowfashionoctober!
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PREVIOUSLY in Top-Down Knitalong: Let’s talk about underarms
Yay! Such amazing and deserving FOs!
And wips!
So many pretty sweaters, all of you are amazing!
Ahhhh!!! I’ve been completely obsessed with Kelsey’s sweater from the beginning. Congratulations to you both!!
Good morning all! As you are speaking of canvas maintenance, I figured I might ask here about repairs. I received the blue canvas bag for my birthday (mid September) and was over the moon! I love it dearly but after a week the leather strap popped out. I’m not very good with a needle and thread, so I’m not sure if it’s just my incompetence, but I can’t find a needle small enough to fit through the little holes in the leather as well as the canvas. Do you have any suggestions?
Oh gosh, I’m so sorry to hear that! Will you please send me an email at contact@fringesupplyco.com with your details so we can get a replacement to you?
That is a cavalcade of sweatery gorgeousness. Really amazing, Karen.
I love that one of your prizes was from A Verb to Keeping Warm. It is Lani Estill’s rambouillet. This is the yarn that I wanted to use for that Phos hat that you had on your site. Her colors are natural from her sheep and are wonderful. I didn’t know that A Verb to Keeping Warm was selling it also. Yeah.
I also love that sweater that won that prize. Is the yarn going to France?
This post is so overwhelming I can’t even read it all at once. Everything is so great, but TOP DOWN DOG SWEATER!!! :)
So glad you picked Orlane’s . It’s great and i have been following hers studiously! but congrats to all who have finished so far and good luck and speedy fingers to those still in progress!!!
As i said to Karen, that’s the best way to start the weekend :-) Thank you all for your kind words about the sweater, now i’m ready for freezing weather. Congrats to Kelsey and all the knitters involved in this amazing KAL ! Thanks again Karen
Such great sweaters – these two and all the others that have been finished or still in progress! I haven’t had much time to do anything other than to CO one of my own, but I have so thoroughly enjoyed scrolling through the IG feed to watch everyone else’s progress. Such amazing creativity and determination! I for one will keep following and knitting.
Well deserved winners. I didn’t that was Orlane on Ravelry whose scarf notes I’ve kept in my knitting bag in case it’s the end of the world, the internet goes down and I must as well knit something good. :)
Gorgeous sweaters! It’s amazing to see the incredible and different ideas and how bravely and boldly people knit and ripped. Which makes me feel like I’m in good company as I am about to join the start over club (is there a pin for that yet?).
There should be!
Wow. Such amazing creativity out there!
Thank you for the KAL! I went with fairly straightforward for my first no pattern attempt but I learned so much from the Improv description and all of the other reading I did just thinking about this project. Definitely changed my perspective and gave me confidence, I am dreaming up all kinds of things I want to create now and feeling like they could actually be possible.
Sounds like the perfect result!
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