Tuesday, September 25, 2007
So I went into Tar-jay last week to pick up a few things and of course I had to peruse the women's department.
And I don't know if it is because I am knitting more now that I am noticing more hand knits in the store. But I almost lost my mind up in there!
Everything that we are personally hand knitting is sitting on the racks in stores looking good and far more cheaper than what we could knit it (not to mention the time). Take a lookey:
The sister to Juliet!!
Is that the cousin to Flair?!?
And these are nice too....sigh
I know! Hand knitting is truly a hobby (since it is no longer called upon as a necessity).
But it just makes a little 'something something' jump inside of me when I see the machine knitted items in stores that I can just snatch up and buy with a blink of an eye!
Mmmmh...don't sleep on Tarjay's fashion! I luvs it! :oD Haha!
I know I know some of you would respond that hand knitting is unique, special, and all about the process. Not to mention the priceless care and love that goes into a garment. Yep, I do know that!
~ But do you just sometimes feel that the store knits are better than your hand knits?
~ That sometimes it is just more efficient and economical advantageous just to go out and buy it off the shelf?
Don't get me wrong I will still be over here knitting. Just sometimes I rather buy things right out the store, than sit down and make it myself! And I do!! LOL
Also, now that most folks know that I am knitting anything I wear that may resemble knitting there is the question of "Did you do it yourself??"
Soapy Knitter once made a personal proclamation that she would love to have all her sweaters in her closet hand knitted. Wow! Wouldn't that just be awesome?!? I can't even imagine that right now! Haha! :op
Just so you know I did leave out of Tar-jay with that cute swing sweater! ;op And I am eyeing all the other ones too in various colors of course! ;oD
What say you? Store vs. Hand knitting??
Enjoy your swing sweater *S*
I think the difference between hand and shop knit is that you can make modifications if you knit it yourself, so that you have it in the exact colour and shape to fit your figure. You can change the number of buttons, length of sleeve and so on. Just look at the work on the silver belle kal. I don't think anyone has stuck rigidly to the original pattern!
I'm a believer that there is a place for both to live happily alongside one another.
All your knitted things look great, but I guess sometimes you just want store bought things that are cute and cheaper to bought than make sometimes.
For my day to day items I tend to wear and tear on the store bought stuff. You can usually find some really nice knits out there at various levels of prices and yarns (although I think they call their's threads). Hand knitting is truely a hobbie for me and reserved for special items. I'm still working on getting sizing just right and I usually look so much cuter in a great shaped store bought knit than in something I did by hand. I think of my knitting as accents to my wardrobe.... the highlight that brings a little somepin' somepin' to the overall look.
I know exactly what you mean when it comes to the price of some of our finished knit items. I use to think that it would be cheaper if I knit something....that is not the case. So, it's good that it is a hobby and a stree reliever, because a sistah would be pissed.
As slow as I knit, I will definitely be buying more than knitting.
As for your quesitons...
I don't have enough fitted garment experience to really weigh in, but I hope to change that in the upcoming fall/winter knitting season. Socks? Check. My friends and family actually are begging for them, even though I can certainly buy them cheaper. Why? Well, I bothered to ask. Firstly, the made with love thing is intangible. Next, most of the people in my intimate circle have "custom" feet. The women tend to have tiny feet, but don't want to wear My Little Pony socks. The men also have small feet, and while they are too macho for slippers, who can scoff at handknit socks on cool hardwood floors?
Next, my cousin says it's all about footprints. (How large of an impact you're making on the environment, generally in more of a consumer/user sense...) When I hand knit something for her, I'm giving nods to all kinds of jobs, many of which are in jeopardy because of commercialization.
And that's enough rambling from me!
I'm with you on purchasing knits as well! Time just doesn't permit to knit every sweater in my closet! But it nice to be able to tell folks that you knitted a sweater that they compliment you on!
Okay...let me give off your blog before I go to Tar-Jay.com and go shopping! See you soon!
Those sweaters are way cute though. I love all the girly touches!
A couple of years ago, I found a beautiful fair isle sweater, machine made, at Eddie Bauer for under $20, a cashmere cardigan for under $30 and a cotton/cashmere hoodie for $15. You bet I bought them and with no hesitation or shame.
I'll have to check out the Target sweaters. Many of them are very cute and if they're well-made, they would be a welcome addition to my wardrobe.
As much as I love hand knitting, some of them take awhile for me to finish. And machine knitted sweaters are knit so fine, which are usually good for me, as I get too warm alot and the fineness of the yarn is just enough weight, but without being too heavy and hot.
I notice old navy is also flogging a big "fair isle" line right now as well. I'm no treally a fan of fairisle to begin with, but their's is particularly half-assed looking.
But I do prefer my handknits. Ain't nothing like wearing something you made yourself with pride!!
I'm easy that way! :D
Seeing pretty sweaters in the stores only makes me want to increase my knitting skills so maybe one day I can hope to knit one for myself.
i have to admt if there is something i can buy that is close to what i want to knit-i just buy it-becuase it is cheaper-i already know it looks good,(my FO might not) and then it means i can cross that off my list and move on to something else ot just postpone a project :) or i just know i wont have something knit for the season. and Target has GREAT stuff!! sometimes you haev to say Yes!!
all in all, i'm a sistah that gets cold a lot, so it's worth it to have plenty of handknit sweaters, cardis, and the like. i hope to eventually have a closet full of handknit sweaters and socks! in-store just can't beat that! except for maybe the occasional baby phat goose down jacket, LOL.
Now, you need to do some penance for actually blogging about such things. We'll grant your absolution if you use some of your left-over Lizzie yarn to whip up a square or two for Michaela's charity project (there's a link on my blog : 0