i have never been one for "naming" sweaters. probably because i don't design them. maybe the naming of sweaters is supposed to be the luxury of those who do design them.
someone else designed this sweater -- someone clever. someone who has a lot of interesting things to say about intellectual property law, which i find fascinating. this is the girl from auntie poncho sweater, but i call my sweater (and only mine), "ute lemper".
during the ten days or so it took to whip this up, i saw ute lemper sing kurt weill's seven deadly sins with the philadelphia orchestra. it is one of the perks of my job, to scoot over half a block to the kimmel center and see this kind of thing for free, sometimes on a friday afternoon at two, such as i did on this day. when ute began to sing, and jerk around sexily, i not only thought when women like this exist, how the hell do troglodytes like britney spears stand a chance?
i also thought about the sweater i was making. the girl from auntie poncho sweater. deceptively simple in design, i knew already that i would be making more than one, as the sweater could be re-interpreted and made new again and again, much as ute could make a career out of re-nuancing all those seedy berlin cabaret numbers.
i love this sweater. i made it in rowan's "big wool", so it weighs roughly an ounce. i changed the neck ribbing slightly, and i did three-needle bindoffs on the seams. other than that, i stuck to the pattern, which features good solid craftsmanship in behind-the-scenes steps that make for a longer-lasting garment: shoulder and neck seams reinforced with grosgrain ribbon, and the fancy shank button you see on the collar is actually attached to a flat button on the inside. both of these features take stress of of the actual knit fabric.
i like the big fancy button i've put up on the high left side, right where queen elizabeth tends to wear her brooches. when i went into the notions store where there was a wall full of buttons on display, i chose this one and was informed that not only was it the second-most expensive button in the whole store -- it was the only one left. that was rather sally bowles of me, wasn't it?
and now, a little more about the ute lemper performance. friday's two o'clock matinees are for the retired set, for the most part. you see a lot of fur coats and walkers. i sat next to an old woman in a full-length fur and proper hat. actually, i got there first, and she still managed to make it feel like it was me who was sitting next to her.
at first she seemed either offended by my presence or just anticipatory of what i might do for her now that i was there. but shortly into the piece, i got the distinct feeling that she found me acceptable.
when ute began to sing about "avarice", the woman next to me started to tap her hand against her program in time to the music. large knobby jewelry clanked on her knuckles. she leaned into me, pointing to "AVARICE" in the program notes, then looked at me and beamed. this was apparently our song.
when i told ben this story later, he said he pictured little old women all over the hall, holding little pennants like you see at football games, with various of the seven deadly sins on them. GO SLOTH!
fancy schmancy. this sweater makes me want to wear lipstick.