I think it is interesting to hear of what inspires each of us.  For my inspiration, I can’t think of a time when I reached for any Vogue Knitting publication that I didn’t end up wanting to make at least one item from it.  Oftentimes, more.  This has remained true for over 40 years.  Now, currently on Ravelry, such magazines, publications, designers of well-known fame as well as fledglings have ‘groups’ one can follow.  From there one can drill down and find things like KALs (knit alongs) and surprise KALs (just that, clues per week to lead to a surprise garment in the end).  These things are found in ‘forums’.  These niceties  are all meant to inspire or motivate the knitter in us.  Well, the Vogue Knitting Group is no exception.  It offers challenges, and I am right in line to accept them.

This particular project is an entry for the 2018 Vintage Vogue KAL:  THEN AND NOW,  This challenge offers:

I chose Edna Hart’s Striped Pullover from VK Winter 2007/2008 as my ‘then’ leaning on the happiness of the stripes and shape of the sleeves.  This leg-o-mutton sleeve or some interpretation of it is everywhere in today’s fashion.

Another reason for choosing this pattern is the opportunity to use up stash remnants.  An idea for your little annoying balls of yarn . . . I love using up those unwanted scraps and am always perusing patterns or thinking of how to use them up, These little bundles were colors with a similar hue and similar to the colors shown in the pattern..  (My color mantra is colors of a similar hue go together.) This gave me 50% of the yarn I needed to knit this project.

The black stripes?  I’ve learned from another how Ravelry’s yarn data base has people willing to sell yarn from their stash, in this case I found the exact yarn the pattern called for a very fair price.    The photo below is the leftover I now have.

After finding gauge, (tricky row gauge, unfortunately), the project moved along.  The design modification I made, however was with the sleeves.  Knowing movement, in particular the stretch at the elbow, I felt ribbing from the puff  down to the wrist, a better way to go.  The pattern calls for straight stitch. I felt the long rib would stay in place, is a stronger fabric, and would lend to the continual movement of arm movement.  I also lengthened the ribbing at the bottom and around the neck to 1 inch, same width as the stripes.  The pattern calls for 2 rows of ribbing.  The wider rib also lends to a more stable finishing.

As we were driving in a direction we thought might be suitable for a photo shoot, we spotted this beautiful gate that resembled the black stripes and significant features of this sweater.  We felt it was a perfect complement to the curvature of the scoop neck as well as the puffy sleeve caps.

The sun was bright.  We worked with it and hoped to match the rainbow-like brightness of this little sweater.

This project was completed this past Fall.

Goal setting!  I am in the process of catching up on my writing before the new year rings as then, I can be writing about current happenings as they occur once, again. OH, and for this challenge, I will be staying with the leg-o-mutton theme and knitting THIS from VK 2018.