General plan
So the general plan is to run the first line of stitching all the way up on the inside. Here it is partly done. And here is how it looks when the whole inside is done. This won't show at all on the outside. Then flip it right side out and run an equivalent line of stitching up the other side of the button band. This can show, just a teeny tiny bit, if you get real real real up close and personal on the stitches (and it will show less once it's been washed a few more times as [...]
Neatly aligned
Four widely spaced buttons on a closely fitted sweater are...not enough to keep the button band neatly aligned. Especially if your bust measurement and waist measurement differ significantly. I am...far more generously built than Verity here is. And even on her, the button band does not hang straight. So since I put my sweaters on over my head and don't mind losing the cardigan functionality, I'm going to fix it. I'll start by flipping the sweater inside out and running a line of stitching up one side of the button band. Once it's done, I'll flip it rightside out and [...]
No, brighter
I have a bright pink sweater. No brighter than that. Brighter still. And I love it...but I have never liked the buttons that came on it. (Bright pink sweater is also excellent kitten trap.) So I'm going to replace them with one of these three. And while I'm at it, I'm going to sew up the button band so that the front of the sweater hangs straight. because using four buttons to hold a form-fitting sweater over a decidedly curvy bit of anatomy will always always always lead to a gaping button band. And that never feels very polished. I'm [...]
Bullseye
What do you think, did I hit the goal (not invisible, but fairly subtle)? I'm pretty happy with it! The first pic is the mend after the sweater was washed and let to dry, the second pic is before I washed it. Just like with most any other knitting project, mended fabric looks better after you've gotten it wet, smoothed it out, and let it dry. It's basically blocking your mend. And, just like any other project, blocking it lets the stitches relax and even out and settle into their final spots. This probably took about three hours of stitching [...]
Fairly Subtle
Ok, so the goal here was 'fairly subtle mend'...in part because 'perfectly invisible mend' was just not going to be an option on this one. But I feel like this is hitting the 'fairly subtle' goal pretty darn well! As is so often the case, there's a 'flop it around and watch it wiggle' version over on instagram, should you be in want of such a thing.
Elbows
This sweater is several years old and had been in heavy rotation that whole time. And elbows are just heavy wear areas, so they’re often the first spot to wear out. But if you catch them in time, you can totally fix it…so let’s do that! Wiggle version with flopping and poking over here, should you be so inclined...
Sorted
I continue to be imaginary, but the blanket repair is sorted. Once I had all the live stitches picked up, I just bound them off with a nice stretchy bind off. It's tedious, because it's long, but not hard. And yes, fine, it probably is ridiculous to fix a blanket I paid thirty bucks for ten years ago. But also, now that it's fixed, it should last several more years. And repairing the One True Blanket is certainly easier than trying to find another one that meets the exacting blanket criteria. So since I can, why not just do it!
Imaginary
I am currently imaginary. I do not exist. I am not doing work. I am not checking email. I am not being productive. I am napping. Or watching a movie. Or napping. Or possibly cooking something...or at least eating something. But probably napping. But, while on my nap-fueled, doze-filled bender of middle-aged debauchery, I'm also doing a bit of mending. Because you know how sometimes you have that One True Blanket that has just the right texture/feeling/size/drape/vibe? And so it is the preferred blanket, no matter how old it is or what it looks like? Yeah. My partner has one [...]
Fixable
Yeah. It's not that the sweater doesn't fit. It's that flat fabric (sweater) over a not flat surface (me) held together at just a handful of spots (buttons) is gonna gap. But it's super fixable! Also yes, someone is about to say "this means you can't undo the buttons," but I'm totally cool with that! With the way this sweater is cut, I never want to wear it open anyways, and this makes me much much more likely to wear it, so it's a good choice for me. If you like to be able to open your cardigan that's not [...]
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