How to “Steal” Ideas

A book I have called “Steal Like An Artist” says,

“Nothing is original, so embrace influence, collect ideas, and remix and re-imagine to discover your own path.”

My “Sassy” sweater is a perfect example of this kind of re-mixing.  It started out as a version of Jenna Adorno’s “Tempting“, which was originally published in Knitty’s Winter 2004 issue.

I also liked her “Ultra Femme” sweater in Stitch & Bitch Nation, which starts out similarly at the bottom, but then switches to fine mohair at the waistline.  The pictures on Ravelry and the archived Knitty Gritty page don’t show it clearly, but in the book it is very sheer and shows a whole lot of black bra underneath.  Hmmm.  Maybe a little TOO sassy?

So I kept the ideas of the yarn change and the sheerness, but I moved that part up to a more modest point.  Right at the underarm is a flattering place to do this.

“Tempting” doesn’t include any yoke shaping whatsoever, which makes for a very simple knit, and instead uses a ribbon and a bow to gather the wide neckline enough to keep it on the shoulders. In fact both inspiration sweaters have a bow detail, but I was after a simpler look. Instead I used standard raglan shaping for a more classic yoke, and simply bound off at the appropriate point to get a square neckline that stretches to look more like a round neckline when it is worn.

Voila! SASSY!

If it makes you feel better, call it “inspiration”.

Yarns used: bottom: Brown Sheep “Cotton Fleece” in “Twilight Green” top: Cleckheaton “Flowerdale”