Wool in Use

Last year you could read a series of blog posts on Wool in Use, i.e. knitted garments actually used by their producers. You can find a list of links on Merete's brilliant blog. It's both interesting and useful to see which models are actually successful when it comes to being used. When I showed my Top 5 Knits for Babies on Sunday, Lena asked if I would make one for grown-ups as well. However, it was too hard to decide on five knits only, so here's my contribution to the Wool in Use tour instead.

Let's first take a look at my wardrobe:

Here are my - ahem - two shelves of hand-knitted sweaters, cardigans, vests, and dresses. If you look at my Ravelry page you will however realize that many more garments have left my needles. These have been passed onto friends and charity shops. I'm no more attached to them than being able to give old and unused ones away to make room for new ones. 

My two shelves have a sort of system that is clearly visible from this photo. In the lower right corner are the sweaters that are used a lot and hence put back in in a not-so-tidy fashion. Moving towards the upper left corner, the sweaters come closer and closer to a life in a new home. Some of those on the top shelf do however have a long way to go before facing that destiny, but you won't see any of them in the following display of frequently used sweaters, which are the ones on the lower shelf - here listed after how frequently they are worn. 

On the top shelf you'll find some previous favourites, that are no longer worn very often (I guess my style has changed) but did get a lot of wear some years ago - e.g. Cabled Spiral Sweater, Bubble Pullover, Still Light, and Twenty Ten. 

The next two photos show the sweaters, cardigans, and vest that I put on occasionally, i.e. somewhere between three and seven times each winter season (and by winter season I mean something like September-April + cold summer nights):

From the top: 1) An old timer, Twinkle's Best Friend Cardigan - still used because of the vibrant colour, it's almost blazer shape, and the fact that chunky knits are still fashionable; 2) Vitamin D; 3) Leise.

From the top: 1) Swallow - this has not been used so much recently because I got into my head that it was too small, but I tried it on today and realized it is not, so it will now be moved to a different pile - quite appropriate since I chose to use my favourite (discontinued) highland wool colour for this one; 2) my The Killing III sweater; 3) my Cara variation; 4) Buttercup; 5) Nightingale.

The next photo shows the garments that are used a bit more often than the ones above but less than the favourites below - something like once or twice a month:

From the top, going in rows from left to right: 1) Raven - I've used this sweater dress a lot; 2) Mellow - I'm not using it so much at the moment, but I have used it a lot previously and think I will do again; 3) Day job dress - a new addition to my wardrobe, but I'm sure it'll get some more wear; 4) a Kim Hargreaves-inspired mohair sweater; 5) Warriston - I use this for outdoor life and it's  actually a quite brilliant sweater.

And finally the favourites: These are used somewhere between a couple of times each month and several times each week:

From the top, going in rows from left to right: 1) Kashmir - currently, this is number one on my list of Most Frequently Used Knits list; 2) Lemon - this has been abandoned for a while, but recently I've started using it often; 3) Høstjakke; 4) Vanilla - a simple and flattering go-to cardigan; 5) Kingscot - I like this one for its colour, the durability of the ÅLJ yarn, and it's almost blazer-like shape; 6+7) my two No. 23 sweaters (red and grey), which are probably the two sweaters I've used the most of everything I've ever knit (and still am) - a good reason for my knitting a third, long-sleeved one (Normandy) at the moment!

So, if I were to make a top list of my favourite knits for adults, it would contain Kashmir, No. 23/Normandy, Kingscot, and Vanilla. I'm hoping that it will also contain Manchuria and Himalaya once I finish those.