Fauna

*Squeak!* I was supposed to have a fourth and final sweater refashion for you by ... yesterday, at the latest, but eek! I had some supplies on backorder which didn't come through until today. In the meantime, I was all ready to get snip-happy with a gray crewneck sweater I'd recently thrifted (and believe me, the concept is in my brain and ready to go!) when I had a little reality check that, crewneck or not, this 100% wool, nicely fitted gray sweater was probably a perfect neutral and layering piece for cool weather. So the new plan is to give the sweater one season to see how much wear it truly gets. And to give it the best possible odds of survival, I tinkered with some accessories to help me get over my aversion to crewnecks because of their supposed "boring" factor.


Hm. Definitely a pop of color, but I think I would want something else fun to pair with it (funky skirt? earrings? a scarf? hat?) ...


Basically, I cut a rectangular strip out of a felted sweater and rolled it up to form a rose, stitched it atop a deep green yoyo, and added a pair of leaves in a lime green. It was a ribbed sweater, so I cut along the rib lines to keep my edges straight.

Been watching a lot of baseball this past week, so all this handsewing has been the perfect companion to the World Series (oh, we are long-suffering fans here in San Francisco. Believe me, I've seen lots of bad baseball games here. Football, too. And lets not even start with basketball!).


Yeah, I got a little enthusiastic. This is a wool blend from Joann's and an ivory thrifted cashmere/wool/nylon cape. I do love mustard yellow, but truthfully have a hard time figuring out what to pair it with (other than gray), so this sweater seemed like a good opportunity to try out some flower fascinators. I've had this idea for wearing more fascinators in my daily life (I have a peacock headband from San Francisco) ... big clusters, fun clusters. This may need some tweaking, but I like what I see so far. Although this makes it tempting to go out and buy more wool felt ...


So yes! Accessories! A good reminder that a sweater needn't always be chopped up to be worn more often :-). And a versatile way to add a splash of color to many outfits. Versatile yet eco-friendly ... score, and score.