For the Men!

Another post for the men!  I found the following sweater at Express.  Unfortunately, it's no longer available.  Pinterest held onto the image, though!

Pretty handsome, right? I found a couple close matches.  First up is Smokin' by Jared Flood, who consistently churns out some seriously awesome patterns.  This pattern of his is from Son of a Stitch 'n Bitch by Debbie Stroller, which has been on my wish list for some time.  This pattern does have some notable differences.  It has a rounded shawl collar and features normal buttons as opposed to toggles.  Skip the button holes and attach the toggle style and it's close! 

Second up is Saturday Morning Hoodie available on Lion Brand's website for free.   This one DOES have the toggle buttons, but it also has a hoodie instead of a collar.  

Mukluks

Hope you all had a happy holiday!  We had a wicked winter storm in Iowa the Wednesday before Christmas.  It made traveling a little more difficult and forced me to crank up the heat!  So, today I'll be showing you some mukluks!  I found these and decided I must find a pattern!

I had a pair (not these exact ones) and just loved them.  Unfortunately, I've lost one in the pair. :(  I did find some pattern matches, though!  

Mukluk Slipper Boots by Maia Greer-Heffernana are almost an exact match!  

In my search, I came across Skull Mukluks by Maggie Pace.  They were just too darn awesome to not include, though they aren't exactly a "match." 

Which Came First?

Sometimes, I swear that clothing designers are watching the knitting community!  I'm not 100% sure which came first, but I'm pretty confident that the knitting patterns is the chicken - er, the egg.  I found this hat on Anthropologie's website.  Minus the flower, I immediately thought of an extremely popular pattern I've seen repeatedly on Ravelry.

It's the Wurm!  This is a free pattern by Katharina Nopp.  The pattern page has a few cool variations, too. 

Like the flower, too?  I found a couple options.  Aster by Ohmay Designs or Daisy found in the book Knitted Flowers by Susie Johns.

 

Holes

This will be another texture focused post.  I found this sweater on Target's website.  It's got a few interesting things going for it.  First, and most obvious are the large holes in the pattern.  I dig it.  If you zoom in on the website, you see that it's actually a cable pattern.  Second, it's got leather (okay, probably vinyl) cuffs.  I dig that, too.  Must figure out how to do this!  It also has Dolman sleeves. Dolman sleeves are fantastic for providing ample room for my annoyingly difficult to hide bust.

Of course, there's enough going on here that it makes it nearly impossible to find an exact match.  But, if you like the holey look, check these out!

First up is Aurelie by Jones and Vandermeer.  It's a cross between a cardigan and a shrug - not sure what to call it.  The back, in particular, has a similar hole pattern.

                   

My personal favorite is Rosemary by Penny Hill, which was in "Let's Knit It" Magazine 35, April 2012.  

For good measure, I'll throw in a third.  This isn't a sweater, but it's been pretty popular among knitters on the web.  This one is Summit by Mandie Harrington and is available for free!  It has a super cool wave to it!

Herringbone

I came across this Herribone Cape on the Neiman Marcus site.  Lovely, right?  Well check out that price tag!  $2225!  It's most surely not knit, but woven.  I still wanted to find something, though.
 

No such luck.  It did get me thinking about Herringbone, though.  Do knits exist in this pattern?  They sure do!  The following are a handful of my favorites. 

Hollywood Herringbone Pullover by Kate Osbornis available in the KnitScene Fall 2009 magazine. 

Quinn by Jones & Vandermeer is available here. 

I REALLY love Chaleur by Julie Hoover.  Not so much a Herringbone because of color, but texture.

Toggle Buttons

I've been seeing toggle buttons everywhere - men's, women's and children's sweaters. I found this one I thought was pretty awesome.  It appears that there are duplicate stitches in a super simple ivy pattern done after knitting the sweater. 



 

 

 

Tembo by Carol Feller seems to be a close match! Her version has buttons that go down the length of the sweater, which I prefer.  If that's not your style, you can certainly omit a few.  Tembo is also appears to be a tad shorter and has the addition of pockets.  Of course, it's easy to add some length. I'm sure you can omit the pocket if you wish, too. 

As far as the duplicate stitches go, you might be able to create your own pattern by blowing the original sweater up on the website and using some graph paper.  An additional option is the chart used for Flora by Margaux Hufnagel.  It's not exact, but it's a starting point, especially since it's a free pattern.

Blue Flowers

Now that I see it's no longer available, this sweater from Macy's isn't haunting me as much.  

I'm not generally a fan of flowery apparel, but something about this made me fall in love IMMEDIATELY.  The price was WAY out of my reach, though.  I hunted for a while for a pattern, convinced I might find at least a chart with similar design.  This will be one of those matches that isn't so much of a match.  However, I have to share what I did find, in case you are in as much love as I am. 

Serene by Martin Storey has a flower that looks close.  The sweater itself is far from being a match, but still cute! 

I also found Botticelli by Marie Wallin.  Again, the sweater itself isn't a match, but the flower is similar. There's much more detail in this one.  

Fingerless Mitts

I found these fantastic fingerless mitts - what Anthropologie calls "armwarmers." 

They look amazing, right?  Well, I was interested to see that the one review of them, wasn't so hot.  It was obviously written by a knitter.  See below for the full text.  

"

Just OK

October 30, 2012

Pros: beautiful vibrant colour true to photo, soft

Cons: thin, larger knit, not very long only halfway to elbow, overpriced

My title says it all. While the colours are extremely beautiful and I love the design, these armwarmers are not as thick and cushy as they appear in the picture. They are thinner than expected and not as long as I thought by looking at the product shot. The knit is actually a larger gauge than you would think by looking at them. While the design concept was a great idea, this item is not worth the price and should only cost half as much (seeing as I could have knit these myself for half the price). They will be warmish, but not as snuggly as I first thought on sight. Great idea/concept...but just 'meh' on the execution. These are more wrist/lower forearm warmers than armwarmers. I just think that they're ok, but maybe they'll grow on me."

So, while the price isn't bad for the product, it seems that making them yourself would be the way to go!  You'll be able to control gauge, length and fiber.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a pattern for fingerless mitts that utilized this "bubbly" stitch pattern.  I did, however, find some leg warmers by Anna and Heidi Pickles that could EASILY be adapted! 

Kors Sweater

I kind of love this Michael Kors sweater I found on Net-A-Porter.  It's messy and a little deconstructed.  

I'm especially fond of the back.  Beautiful right?  Well, I couldn't find anything exact, but it did make me think of Forest Weave by Yumiko Alexander.  It definitely has the open, "messy" cables.  

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Cat Hat

I found this Feline Beanie on Anthropolie's website the other day!

Super cute right?

Well, I found a similar pattern on Ravelry by Diane Serviss that can be found here.  Please excuse the creepy mannequin in the picture. :)  The only adjustment needed to make it exact would be the elimination of the ribbing and a color change.

Shawl Collar

I've been seeing a lot of shawl collared sweaters for the men lately.  Two in particular had great texture.  

Both sweaters refer to a "waffle" knit, however, I think the one on the right might actually be a broken cable.

You can find them here and here.

I dug for similarly textured, shawl collared cardigans and found two.  The first designed by Mari Lynn Patrick is available from Knit Simple Magazine.  Pattern and magazine issue details can be found on Ravelry, here. 

The second one, designed by Debbie Bliss is available for free here and features, in my opinion, the closest texture.