Me made wardrobe

Towards the end of last year I was starting to think about how not only do I love to knit, probably more than anything else I've ever been into, but just how much of an effect it has on my wardrobe and how I think about what I choose to wear.

On a lighter note, it means I have no trouble bypassing sweaters in a store, because I just think why would I buy one when I can make myself one. But on a deeper level, I love the custom built benefits of knitting my own garments. I have parts of my body, probably like most people that I would prefer to take the spotlight off and others I'm happy to emphasize, and I realized I had a list of certain characteristics I look for in a top. Certain colors I gravitate towards, certain, shapes, length of sleeves etc and whilst I may have in the past browsed items in a store and found something that ticked one or two of these boxes, very rarely would it tick all of them, the fit I wanted, the color, the fabric, but if it had one or two of them down, and yet because of that single tick, the neckline, the color, the length I would be drawn to purchase it, but yet maybe never love it completely. It doesn't have to be that way with something I make myself and that's what I love about knitting.

I would say there are probably less than 10 absolutely love them to death store bought items in my wardrobe, and I would rather let it come down to those reliable pieces, than a wardrobe full of "It's alright" contenders, so bit by bit, as quick as I can knit them, I am wading out these also rans and replacing them with their more perfect hand knit counterparts.

I live in a hot climate, where it's pretty warm to sweltering from around March through to October, and the consensus obviously is lots of summer clothes, sleeveless, short length, lighter colored ...all things I am not fond of. Last Summer I took a stand, and didn't wear clothes that I didn't love myself in and I basically spent the time in a selection of black and navy tees (not sleeveless and preferably with a v neck) and either skinny or boot-cut jeans, the odd no shorter than knee length skirt. That's how I'm happiest. 

I often feel pressure even in our winter months here, not to be too heavily dressed, not to be too dark in color choices ... and maybe this has something to do with growing older, but if it does then it just coincides wonderfully with my joy of knitting, but I no longer feel the need to dress for others above myself. I am happiest in dark colors, sleeves (short, three quarters, long, just not none at all), longer length skirts, jeans and jeans and more jeans. I can design what I wear now, and if I have on a navy tee and dark jeans which I love to wear then I can still wear that but feel I am lifting any too consuming "shes always in dark clothes" feeling with a really upbeat colorful shawl, because bright colors, neon's, even pastels,  in my shawl I can handle, and love, but not so happy with them emphasizing my broad shoulders as a top. I dictate the sleeve length, amount of shaping, colors, fabric, meaning I get to wear what I want and how I want to wear it, and whereas before I would have felt I had to wear that all over light colored top, or sleeves that were just a little shorter then I liked, now I can find solutions to change 'should into want', I can make a top cleverly placing lighter and darker colors where I want them to sit on my body, or grab that bright shawl to spark up that plain dark tee, or combine a bright perfect shape for me top with those dark jeans or make those sleeves just a little longer and a lot more loved...

I'm old enough to be beyond anything other than dressing for me now and being able to make and style my own garments gives me freedom to customize what I wear into my ideal style.

No more clothes that seem to hate me as much as I hate them, now I use my minimalist personal style as a blank canvas to create onto and I love everything I make, if not, it gets frogged the yarn reborn into further potential...

Now that I am going to be venturing into shawl design this year, this feeling just feels even more pumped up, total freedom with colour, shape, style texture, so to create, create, create !