I’ve found that as I’ve become more and more obsessed with knitting, I have a real aversion to buying knitwear. I see sweaters in shops and dismiss them. Either because of fibre snobbery or because I don’t like the colour and in the end, “I could knit that myself” is always at the front of my mind. Despite the fact that I never actually do…
I was sorely tempted the other day, though, when I went to Dorothy Perkins on a hunt for a blouse and found this cardigan:
It’s a cute shape, and in a not-too-awful cotton acrylic blend, but it was the stitch pattern that made me draw breath. It’s only my very favourite lace leaf pattern!
In the end I didn’t buy one because the shop only had two colours in stock. The green was too bright for me, and the black didn’t come in my size. But I’ll remember it, and maybe one day I’ll use the pattern for a cardigan of my own design. 
I have the same problem. I’ve only ever knit three adult sized sweaters, and two of them for myself. And it didn’t stop me from throwing away all my old, store bought sweaters because they were acrylic and I decided they were scratchy and didn’t breathe enough. Now winter approaches, and I’ve finished one sweater… If I could only learn to like sweater knitting as much as socks.
This sounds familiar. I’m a material snob anyway (I own very few things that are made out of synthetic fibers, they don’t breathe enough), but when you add cheap construction… I don’t buy cheap factory knits any more.
When you get past a certain price point — say, $80 or more — and it’s a really nice piece made out of nice material, I’m more likely to buy it. Yes, I could knit it myself, but knitting takes time, and I could be wearing it to work right now while knitting on something I can’t buy. And when it’s black and the fit is good, I don’t even hesitate. With a 10″ different between bust and waist and waist and hips, a good fit is rare enough that I just snag up a nice garment if it looks good on me.
That really is a very nice cardigan, by the way. It’s a good thing you had a chance to see it in black, so you’ll know if the stitch pattern will show. That’s the one thing about knitting with black: what’s the point of slowing yourself down with complicated stitchwork when it’s not even visible?
i do that too….my husband just rolls his eyes now when i say i could make it. since i can’t churn out sweaters as fast i need them, of course i buy storemade but it’s getting rarer and rarer. what i really hate now is to buy cold-weather sweaters made in cotton and acrylic, because i know they won’t be as warm or last as long as wool.
I have to add my name to the list of people in agreement. And I’m not even really a sweater knitter–I’ve done like, two, one of which I frogged because it was massive. But still, I find myself moving away from store-bought sweaters, mostly because I don’t like the high acrylic content. I have a few store-bought sweaters, mostly very fine-gauge and cotton or wool blends, but I find I’m becoming pickier and pickier, and in the end, I rarely buy. Unless the fit is incredibly fabulous (which, because of my idiotic proportions, it usually isn’t).
That little cardigan is incredibly cute, though.
Oooh love the pattern on that cardigan! There is a mathematical reason for the years going quicker – it’s because as you get older, each year becomes a smaller proportion of your whole life, and therefore seems like a smaller amount. I mean when you were ten, each year was a full tenth of your life, but when you were twenty, it was only a twentieth! Hope that makes sense
I do exactly the same thing. trouble is I never get round to knitting any of the cardi’s I could copy from the shops.
Oh it’s lovely! I find that I’ve been doing the same myself. It’s really hard though at the end of the season when things are dirt cheap.