Style - With No Photos

Posting recently about avoiding "Your Grandma's Knitting", reminded me of something that happened this past winter.

A neighbour mentioned that she had seen me from across the room at a recent social function. Apparently, I was wearing one of my hand-knit sweaters. As my neighbour told it, she spotted me and my sweater and said to herself "Boy! That Brenda sure knits for style."

What a compliment! Indeed I do knit for style. But to have it recognized by a non-knitter- well, I basked. It didn't take long though, until I questioned the thought. If a knitter doesn't knit for style, then for what? Ugly? Plain? Serviceable?

Do you know knitters that gather together yarns in an unpleasing array of colours then exclaim
"That's it! The perfect combination for my 'ugly' sweater."

Do you know knitters that search for a pattern and purposefully choose the most ugly?

No knitter gleefully grabs her needles exclaiming "I can't wait to knit another ugly."

That's not to say that ugly never happens. I recall the self-designed, gold, worsted-weight, wool sweater I made as a KAL with a 'How To Knit Pattern-Free' class I was teaching. Ugh-Lee! So ugly that after the first couple of lessons, I was too embarrassed to bring it to class.

And then there's ugly fit. I remember my early knitting projects. Patons Shetland Chunky 'Nordic Ski' sweaters. Blindly following the pattern, iognoring my petite frame, I made housecoats, not sweaters.

Mistakes aside, every knitter knits for style. It was nice to be complimented, but really! I just do what all knitters do. We knit for style.