Finished: City Cape with Bonus WIP Photo!

Since I've been working on so many things at once it's been a little harder than usual to see progress, but I finally have something that looks like a cape and a cardigan!


I am pretty much done with the Not-a-Poncho City Cape, from the book Custom Knits by Wendy Bernard. I used Cascade Ecological Wool in color #8087, Coffee. It's a top-down, raglan shaped cape. It took me a little under two skeins, and I added several inches before beginning the arm holes, otherwise the armholes would have started half-way up my biceps. My only other modification was changing the trim to 3 x 2 rib instead of 2 x 2. This is one of the things I really wanted for my Fall/Winter wardrobe, so I'm happy it's done before the weather changes.


I don't know if the news has traveled out of Southern California, but we've been having record heat around here (113 degrees in downtown Los Angeles and at least that hot where I live!) so I just couldn't face stepping outside to model my wooly cape. It's pretty much done, but it's supposed to have ribbon facing on the front bands and around the armholes. I bought some brown and cream with blue accents paisley ribbon at Joann, but it's not exactly what I had in mind--so I might just leave it off until I find the right one. I wanted something a little more earthy, and less of a contrast with the knitted part.

I do like the Cascade Ecological Wool, if only because it's so cheap. I bought five skeins of this stuff on sale at WEBS for $11 a huge skein of heavy worsted/bulky weight yarn (depending on who you ask), and so for $55 I have knit my husband a sweater, this cape, and still have enough left for a short sleeved cardigan for me. This color is a little hairy, but I have a lighter color that isn't quite as bad. From now on I think I will stick to the lighter colors.

Just for fun, here is one of my WIP's, the Delancey Cardigan designed by Alexis Winslow. Delancey is a one-armed lady at the moment...but I love knitting with Knit Picks Swish DK, so I don't even dread the sleeves. The other one will be coming right up! I'm using Beach Glass as the main color, and Pampas Heather as the contrast color. It's a little less punchy than the pattern model, but I was good and used stash yarn.




This is such a well-written pattern, and for once it's designed for taller-than-average girls with long arms! I actually knitted my sleeves SHORTER than the model. Never happened before! I really like the way it's written, with row numbers given in all instructions. It would be difficult to modify the length without completely re-writing the pattern, though, so keep that in mind if you're considering this one. This will hit me around the bottom of my rear, and I am 5'7" tall. Once I get the bottom trim knitted on, it will not have that "V" shape anymore.

Slow Fashion

If you haven't already heard this term, "Slow Fashion," you will be hearing it soon...the slowed economy has caused many people's disposable income to dry up, and this has inevitably affected when and how people buy clothes. I first heard about slow fashion earlier this year when I started reading more sewing and knitting blogs in preparation for starting my own blog. There are so many women out there who are sewing their own wardrobes, refashioning thrift shop finds, knitting copies of expensive sweaters, creating their own beaded jewelry, and on and on. It's inspiring!

Zoe Wood (article link) writes: "'Slow fashion is not just about responding to trends,' says Adili chief executive Adam Smith. 'It is a mentality that involves thinking about provenance and buying something that won't look unfashionable after one season.'"

Many bloggers have also translated this concept into wearing things that are handmade, by themselves or someone else. The explosion of Etsy in the past couple of years is part of the slow fashion movement as well, I believe.

The concept of slow fashion fits well with my personal philosophy of consumption: we try to buy things that last, not necessarily the cheapest model of whatever doo-dad the house/car/kids require. BUT--we often buy used or scout around for a floor model or "scratch and dent" item. I've always said I have champagne taste on a beer budget, and this applies to my wardrobe as well. As much as I may drool over the clothes at Anthropologie or higher-end designer stores, the budget simply won't allow it. So, I've really made a commitment to avoiding "disposable" clothes--you know, the ones that fall apart after 5 washings and will look hopelessly dated in just a few months. As a bonus, making things myself enables me to know that they weren't made in sweatshops, and will (with a little skill and luck) fit perfectly.

The challenge for me, at least, is that I do want to look current and fashionable. I definitely don't want to be that weird hippie lady with the cloth-diapered, home schooled kids; a weird diet; and the frumpy clothes (because I already have three of those four). So, for now, participating in slow fashion means attempting to use the fabric and yarn in my closet--see, I'm sticking to my stash challenge!--to make clothes that somewhat re-create looks I see in catalogues and magazines.

I am making a knitted cape, I'm working on a 50's ish dress, and I've got several more ideas for things I want to make and wear this fall and winter. Shall I share the sewn things here, not just the knitted?