The Siren Song of Trends

I have a love/hate relationship with the whole idea of trends. On the one hand, part of my job is creating patterns that will enable people to knit clothing. I feel an obligation to keep on top of both popular patterns and knitting techniques and the larger world of fashion. I get excited when I see something both beautiful and innovative.

Photo by Armen Aydinyan on Unsplash

On the other hand, I think most trends are nothing more than hype designed to drive our desire to buy more stuff. Like the siren’s song, trends can entice us with false promises while leading us to ruin. Chasing trends leads to overconsumption and fuels the growth of fast fashion. It leads to having a closet full of clothes (and big credit card bills) but nothing to wear.

The Intersection of Trends and Hand Knitting

It’s easy to forget that we knitters can be as prone to overconsumption as those who do not make clothing. If the size of your yarn stash defies any reasonable expectation that you’ll be able to use it during your lifetime, you are simply creating a disposal problem for your heirs.

Trends are even more troublesome when it comes to those clothes we knit by hand. Unlike the click-to-buy ease of fast fashion, any hand knit garment is an investment in time and money. By the time you finish knitting a sweater in the trendy color of the moment, that trend will be yesterday’s news. (Brat green, anyone?) If that trendy color is not one that makes you feel beautiful and does not integrate well with the rest of your wardrobe, it will languish in a drawer unworn.

Photo by Zoe on Unsplash

Even knitting techniques are subject to trends. Oversized graphic intarsia pullovers (often worked in brushed mohair) were big in the 1980s. Entrelac had a moment in the early 2000s. Brioche knitting has been popular for the past 10 years or so but now seems to be fading. Mosaic knitting is currently on an upswing.

What’s a Knitter to Do?

• Know your own style.
  What clothing makes you feel like the best version of you? In which styles, colors, and materials do you feel most comfortable, confident, and beautiful? Spend the bulk of your time and money on clothing that fits this description. These are the clothes and accessories in which you might invest in the best quality you can afford with the intention that these clothes will be worn many times over many years.

• Watch Color Trends From a Distance
  When a color is trending, you’ll find lots of clothing available in that color. When a color (other than classic neutrals) is out of favor, you may not see it in retail at all. For example, I love a strong, clear red. My 5-year-old red tee shirt was looking tired and a bit faded, so I retired it in my last closet purge. I’m on the lookout for a new red tee for summer, but true red is not a popular color right now. On the other hand, if butter yellow is the color that makes you feel like wonder woman, this is your season to stock up.
  
  When a trend intersects with your personal style, take advantage of its popularity to stock up on basics, and enjoy feeling like one of the cool kids for however long it lasts.

• Use Caution When Venturing Outside Your Established Style
  I recently saw a denim trend report that highlighted these barrel leg jeans from the Gap. My usual jeans are classic high-rise straight-leg, but I thought these looked cute and comfortable. I resisted the urge to buy now and stopped into the local Gap store next time I was in the neighborhood to try them on. One look in the mirror and I knew it was a hard NO.
  
  Trying on clothes in a store is nobody’s idea of a good time. But seeing a garment in person and trying it on saved me the money and hassle of returning an impulse purchase (or more likely, hiding it in the back of my closet until my next trip to Goodwill).
  
  For new-to-me yarns, I’m a big fan of purchasing one skein and taking it for a test drive before investing in enough to make a sweater.
  
  Knitting techniques can also be approached with caution. If you’re new to mosaic knitting, start with a hat or pair of fingerless mitts. Give yourself a chance to find out if you enjoy both the doing and the result before you invest time and money in making a project you’ll never wear.

• Learn to Say “It’s Not For Me”
  You can claim your right to your own preferences without denigrating someone else’s. If someone urges you to invest in a style or color with which you’re not comfortable, trust yourself enough to say, “It’s not for me.” Oversized cropped pullovers? It’s not for me. Highly textured cables and bobbles? It’s not for me. It might well be for a lot of other knitters, including you. But I don’t need to make or wear it just to feel like I belong.

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You know I love a good murder mystery, and I just finished listening to a terrific one: Find Me by Anne Frasier.

This is one of those stories where everyone has a hidden agenda, and you don’t know which characters you can trust. The twists around every corner kept me happily listening as I twisted my way through the cable pullover I’m knitting right now (a commissioned design intended for publication in the Fall).

Beyond the mystery, this is a book about the damage an unhealthy parental relationship can inflict upon a child, and the lasting wounds caused the disappearance of a parent. The audio narration, by Erin Bennett, is wonderful.

Find Me is the first of a 2-part series. I’ve just started the second book, Tell Me.

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Some things that caught my eye…

• The always entertaining

  Sarah C Swett
  is using her scraps of leftover wool to knit little seed-starting pots which will be planted out in her vegetable garden.

• Anne Helen Petersen
  published a thought-provoking essay about how the push to make goods cheaper and more accessible creates a world where people are bad at their jobs, costing us all time to remedy the errors. Anne’s Culture Study newsletter is always worth reading, and I happen to have three free 1-month paid subscriptions to give away. If you’d like one, leave a comment with the phrase “Culture Study for me, please”. The free subscriptions will go to the first three responders.

• Here is Saturday Night Live’s take on the closure of JoAnn. Love the bedazzled hip flask.

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As always, thank you for inviting me into your inbox. And a special welcome to new subscribers! Many of you have dropped in as a result of a referral from the wise and talented

Beth Brown-Reinsel

, which tells me you have excellent taste😉. I’m glad you’re here.

Join the conversation—what part do trends play in your knitting? Do you like knitting the same pattern as all your friends, or do you avoid knit-a-longs and other group projects? Tell me about it in the comments. And don’t forget to comment with Culture Study for me, please if you’d like one of the free one-month paid subscriptions.