Sweater Season

It's cold this morning. Like, SweaterWeather cold. I love it!
If you read my blog post earlier this week, you know I've had sweaters on the brain. I might be a bit biased but to me, almost nothing is better than wearing a hand knit or crocheted sweater on a cool Fall day. In my new sweater daydreaming I took a little stroll through the finished sweaters in my Ravelry group and WOWSERS was I impressed.  It did not help me settle on which sweater to make as my brand spanking new Rhinebeck sweater for this year but it certainly was inspiring! I thought I'd share (with the maker's permission of course!) a tiny selection of some really beautiful sweaters:

Knitosaraurusrex (what a user name!) seems to be pretty prolific in her making and we seem to share a taste for color and a bit of quirkiness. She made the sweater below using(ish) the Zuma Tunic pattern and three colors of Mini Empire.

Knitosaurusrex's Forest For the Trees

 Krisnicole made this insanely beautiful version of Party Mix using some variegated Hudson, for everyone who is afraid of variegated sweaters I think this is a perfect "gateway" sweater.  Toned down a bit by the semi-solid contrasts  it is really a showstopper!

krisnicole's indian corn & candlewick

 Empire sweaters abound!

Myself, I love a variegated sweater, and here are a few people who obviously feel the same, these sweaters are all made with Empire - which by the way, is getting prepped to make its first appearance of 2013 in the shop soon, you can join my email list up on the right hand side of this blog to be among the first to know when it does...

Queenofquitealot went with the Classic Ladies Raglan, which seems like a perfect choice to "tame" the wildly variegated colors of her Empire skein and Alisamcr started with a crocheted cardigan pattern but ended up heavily modifying it for a more flattering fit, the result is a perfect & very wearable cardigan!

Queenofquitealot in a classic knitted in Empire

Alisamcr's crocheted cardi

Then there is my Empire sweater which I think encompasses everything about Autumn in Upstate NY, changing leaves hues in a cozy cardigan with some of the best wood buttons I've ever found, they are apple wood, what could be more Upstate NY?!  
(I know you'll ask, and I'm sorry to tell you there isn't a pattern, yet.  I improvised it so I'd have something to wear to Rhinebeck and have been meaning to get the pattern together but that just hasn't found its way onto the schedule yet)

Upstate NY Autumn in sweater form

My postergirl Cal Patch sporting (almost) head to toe JDMS

You probably know the picture above is my BFF (Best Fiber Friend) and sewing guru, Cal Patch in full fiber fest gear she's wearing her own design Wingfeathers crocheted with Splendor, a Laurel headband knit in some commercial yarn (BLASPHEMY!) Just kidding, it is Noro if you can't tell by looking. In my opinion the pièce de résistance and according to a cursory Ravelry search the ONLY one of its kind (how can THAT be?!) of this amazing outfit is her crocheted EPS sweater made from an Empire hank.

Laura Nelkin ready to pick peaches in raspberry

The most recent sweater added to my rav group pool is Laura Nelkin's modified Beach Street Park made in Mohonk she squished and squished and cradled at Vogue Knitting Live last January - I was so glad to see it finally as a sweater!  You can find all of her mod notes over on her blog obviously it gets colder out by the Finger Lakes earlier than it does here, I wasn't quite ready for a sweater a couple weeks ago...

Above is a sweater I knit - and there IS a pattern for this one made out of Nimbus. Because Blithe is knit with lighter than air laceweight it is diaphanous but because that laceweight is a blend of 70% angora and 30% silk it is the absolute warmest thin sweater you can possibly ever wear.  I love that it is a big, cozy silhouette but you can still see hints of you shape underneath so you can be warm without adding lots of bulk.

I'm ready to knit about 16 new sweaters, think I can squeeze them in while prepping for Fall fiber season? Maybe not 16, but I am hoping to make at least 1 new sweater for Rhinebeck.  
I started a thread in my Ravelry group for moral support and will be posting some tricks I've found for making sweaters come out the way you envision them over the next bunch (six to be exact) of weeks.  Are you ready for sweater season? Please  join us over on Ravelry and let's all encourage each other along to finish some new sweaters!