Sunday, July 19, 2009

Geezer Chic...

What on earth is a ‘geezer’ cardigan? Well, I guess the idea behind it - I’d heard young people were going to Value Village and the Sally Ann, searching out old men’s cardigans to wear. And I thought, well, everyone’s heard of the boyfriend sweater - never sure what it really was other than maybe, kind of like a sweater a young girl might borrow from her boyfriend and not want to give back because she found it comfy for schlepping around... who knows? So, I figured, okay, take the design elements of the old guy’s cardigan and turn it into a fashion statement.
Well, I’d like patch pockets, a vee neck, buttoned front, of course - otherwise it wouldn’t be a cardigan, duh? I also thought - longer than we’ve seen for a while and slightly A-line, instead of fitted.
The yarn I chose is simply gorgeous - Jaggerspun zephyr wool/silk 2/18 which I used doubled, making similar to a 4 ply fingering weight in stockinette - the sheen and drape to this yarn is awesome. The hems are deep, full needle rib, left open at the sides. I did the same depth on the cuff and when I tried it on, after seaming the sides and underarm, I liked the cuff left open as well! The front band is knit in one piece vertically, circular, with vertical slit buttonholes. Getting it all together, the final touch was finding the big black leather buttons, just like the old style you used to see on Grandpa’s sweater!
I wasn’t too sure about using this name, but at the photo shoot, when I gave it to Shanley to put on, and told her I was thinking of calling it ‘Geezer Classic’ or ‘Geezer Chic’, she said ‘oh, it has to be ‘Geezer Chic’! Here’s Shanley! Look for this in No 50!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I'm looking forward to enjoy
issue number 50.
I'm sure you'll have a lot of exciting new designs for your readers.
Greatings from Norway
Irmelind Geisler

Cindy said...

I like it! It's almost time for mailing, right? I'm feeling like that commercial where she's at the store saying "Open. Open. Open." There are lots of "I want to knit this" garments coming in this issue. Thanks for all the sneak peeks.