..... S.
This is where we come when we are LAZY or simply too unskilled or without enough time to do it ourselves but still covet that delightful, kitschy, handknitted look. The following are incredible places to get bodaciously beautiful knits and knitted thingies online.
The first stop should always be Anthropologie. Overpriced (same company as Urban Outfitters, go figure) but GORGEOUS and they don't have sweaters like this anywhere else. I think Anthropologie seriously corners the cutesy popcorn stitch and unusually colored fair isle retail sweater market... Couldn't find many online pics of the pieces I have most loved in the past, but this one will do:
And then, for knitted funk that makes even Anthropologie look prudish, check out Dreamwoven at dreamwoven.com ...
Wowza.
Here, however, is couture house Rodarte's take on "knitting":
Oh, come on! It's avant garde!
No? really, no?
Back to the traditional then...
Or you can go super duper traditional, as in centuries of Irish clan tradition, with clanarans hand knit sweaters, not cheap but phenominal and straight from Ireland (This one is the traditional sweater of the Kennedy clan, which, despite its being Irish, has somehow come to rule the United States of America o_O ):
While I knew that there were clan tartans in Scotland I was completely unaware until researching for this post that there are, apparently, clan arans in Ireland. Definitely check out the history section of their website, explaining what exactly an Aran sweater is and how it came to be. Apparently the stitches are a code that can pass along information - Can anybody say Tale of Two Cities? Meanwhile, if you have an even remotely, tangentially Irish last name they have a whole index of names for you to look under to find your family's traditional Irish sweater. It will tell you what sweater is yours, what the symbols in the sweater stand for, and the story and history of your family that led to the development of said sweater. Pretty nifty. I have seriously blown hours looking up the sweaters of Irish people I know - is that weird?
And then, of course, how could I do hand-knit without a gander at Etsy.com? Observe, minions!
First of all, elf518 may be the most talented knitter I have ever seen.
This piece of work, for the modest (and probably deserving) price of $600 smackeroonies, was HAND KNIT
Are you kidding? I have serious needle envy.
OffTheHookSweaters offers surprisingly sound prices for their sizable, wrapparoundykeepwarmy sweaters given how much labor and yarn must go into them -I enjoy this one:
And for truly delightful floral neckwear (with matching hats!) consider xeino's creations...
And finally, because this is an equal opportunity shopping blog, I have included one token crochet item from MyissaG - wasn't gonna do it but the cuteness compelled me (check out her pretty colored wash cloths, lacy crochet scarves, and bunny plushies)
Greener Pastures Farm offers what they call Real Socks, custom made by hand with high quality wool yarn at $199 a pair. The seller makes a point - that in order to sell high quality, hand knit items made with tight, small stitches out of good materials you have to charge less than minimum wage for your labor...according to the website these socks would cost over $400 if she paid herself minimum wage, and I believe it. She also made a good point in her May 6, 09 blog post about women's work being undervalued in comparison to the work of men.
Still...I don't know that I can afford $199 a pair, no matter how high quality the socks are. This is part of what stinks about selling hand knit, and hand made in general - someone, either on the selling end or the buying end or both, has gotta get screwed. This is why I knit for myself.
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