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Lilac Forever Vest

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Lilac sleeveless turtleneck sweater, knitted from the Forever Vest pattern


Oh hi there! 👋 Hey look, I made a sweater!

I know it might seem strange that it took so long for me to knit something from my own book, but when Seasonless: Patterns for Life first published I was in the midst of the move from Florida (where I had not knitted, apart from a few of the smaller book samples) to Upstate New York. And at that moment pretty much everything I owned was still in storage, including my needles and what little yarn had survived the culling for 2 interstate moves in 2 years.

As happy as I’ve been to be back in a land where sweaters make sense, I’ve also been aware of how many of them I own — including several of the garments that were the basis for the book. My house is quite small and closet space is limited and finite, so I’m (trying to be) more deliberative than ever about what I add to my wardrobe. (More on that to come?) And that’s how it happened that Seasonless was at the end of its second printing before I finally decided to make myself a Forever Vest — albeit, naturally, with some modifications! I am still me, after all, incapable of sticking to a pattern … even when it’s my own. 

But that’s also the whole point of Seasonless: everything is immensely adaptable.

Page from the book Seasonless showing four variations on the Forever Vest pattern


I finished this sweater the night before Thanksgiving, and I’m thrilled to report that in the meantime it was announced that Seasonless was going back on press for a third printing, and is once again available through Amirisu and at local yarn stores around the globe. So if you don’t already have it, you have another chance! And I want to thank all the people and shop owners especially who apparently lobbied Amirisu to keep the book in print. It’s hugely rewarding that people are finding it so useful.

So about my Forever Vest. As you may know (witness Sloper, etc), I have always loved a sleeveless turtleneck. But I’m especially into it at this point in my midlife, where I like to keep my neck warm but a whole turtleneck sweater is nearly always more than I can bear. Plus I love them for layering both over shirts and under jackets. I’m not sure why we didn’t include a turtleneck variation for the vest, like we did for the Everyday Pullover, but no reason that would stop me from using Forever to make a sleeveless t-neck.

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I also wanted it to be super wide and cropped, so I chose to knit the 6th size (47.25″, or about 13″ of positive ease), and I think that was the wrong call. I posted very briefly about this on IG recently and noted that I planned to try to reblock it narrower and see what happens, but haven’t done it yet. Instead of looking cool over a button-down shirt, the proportion just looks … wrong. But I still love it for under a jacket of any kind, whatever might happen with the width. And I am super happy with the length and neck.

Specifically, my mods were:
• knitted the straight body but shortened it to 10.5″ before the armholes.
• wish I had knitted to a smaller-size neck hole (since I started with a larger size) but just picked up fewer stitches than the pattern called for and worked ribbing for 8.5 or 9″

That’s it. I knitted the neck on a flight home for the holiday and only had one needle with me. Normally for a turtleneck, I like to use a needle one size larger for the upper (outer fold) half of the neck, but I just sort of consciously loosened my gauge a bit and it came out just fine. And had I not been on a plane and unprepared, I would also have done a tubular bind-off on the neck so the bottom edge of it would have a little more heft.

The yarn is my old all-purpose fave Germantown sent to me by my friends at Kelbourne Woolens, in Lilac, which is a pretty perfect shade. I’m very happy with that choice — and with the pattern itself. I’m especially pleased with how the armhole shaping came out, and am now eager to make another one.

I no longer own the Aran-Gansey pullover than inspired one of the stitch patterns (it went to England last year with a niece on whom it looks amazing, makes my heart happy) so now I’m thinking of making a Forever with that stitch pattern. I’ll let you know if I do!

Posting this less than a year after the previous post is breaking my once-every-other-year pace, lol, and who knows, I might pick up steam from there. Thanks again to everyone still reading and supporting this old blog. I appreciate you! And if you’ve been knitting from Seasonless, I’d love to hear about it—

Photos of me, the book and my sweater are © me; pattern photos from Seasonless by Masahiro Shimazaki for Amirisu

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Two new(ish) things

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Hi again — I hope you’ve been well! I’ve got two things to update you on:

1. THE TIP JAR
It is indescribably rewarding that thousands of people per week continue to visit and make use of this blog, given all the years of love and labor that went into it. It’s also costly to keep it here, to be honest. In the four years since I put it in hiatus, I’ve spent thousands of dollars to keep it online and ad-free. So I’m asking you — whether you’ve found value here in the past or are seeing this in the future — to please drop a few bucks in the new tip jar. I’ve put links at the top of the posts that still get the most traffic, but am just straight up asking you to help me cover some of my ongoing costs here, if you’re able. The tip jar is PayPal-powered, and you can use a credit card or PP account (whenever and as often as you see fit). I’ve set it to $3 increments — if you feel you’ve gotten more value than that from a pattern, tutorial, hot tip or whatever, you can change the quantity to increase the amount. Thank you in advance to everyone who’s able to pitch in! Please don’t feel bad if you can’t.

2. THE BOOK
Hopefully you already know this but, just in case, I published a book last fall with Amirisu, called Seasonless: Patterns for Life! I don’t mind telling you it’s a treasure trove: 5 patterns (cardigan, pullover, vest, hat, mitts) each with 4 interchangeable stitch patterns (solid, stripe, textured bands, mosaic bands) and multiple details to choose from (lengths, neckbands, collars, pockets, etc), for an unlimited number of potential makes, all at one gauge. There are still copies available for purchase (as of this writing) through Amirisu at the link, or ask for it at your local yarn store. Thank you to everyone who has already bought a copy!

And thanks as always for your time and your support!

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Hello, old friends!

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What a minute it’s been. When I put this blog on hiatus in January 2020, I could never have imagined all that was about to happen in the world, and I hope you’ve fared as well as possible through all the turmoil. I have missed talking with you!

That said, I have a lot of big news to share today and will keep it as brief as I can— 

FRINGE SUPPLY CO. 
You likely know that in the summer of 2020 (foreseeing supply-chain issues and so on), I made the difficult but healthy decision to halt the retail/wholesale/consumer goods functions of Fringe Supply Co. The big exciting thing that has happened with the brand in the meantime has been collaborating with my friend Jen at Grainline Studio to turn the Field Bag into a home sewing pattern — and kits! So the Field Bag lives on in that way, alongside its predecessor, the beloved Stowe Bag pattern. But since these Grainline patterns are the lone way in which the FSCo brand is still in use, it increasingly made sense to me for Jen to own it, and we’ve now made that a reality! So you will see the Fringe Supply properties start to come to life again in service of promoting existing and future co-brand projects, only now under Grainline’s stewardship. Yes, you read that right — there will be more Grainline x Fringe projects going forward! And I’ll continue to have a hand in that, but now as a contractor to Grainline. So if you’re already subscribed to the FSCo mailing list, you don’t need to do anything, and you’ll continue to receive updates from Jen with GxFS news. If you’re not subscribed, sign up here for future news on that front!

LIMITED-EDITION KITS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
But wait, there’s news on that front TODAY! Those pics up top are of the second installment of our Artist Series Field Bag kits, each one individually hand-painted by my talented husband, Bob Bechtol — no two of them alike. The kit would make an excellent gift, as would the finished bag, or of course you can buy a kit and sew it for yourself. There are only 60 of these kits, so if you want one, please do read the product description and caveats carefully but then don’t sit on it — the previous edition didn’t last long!

A LITTLE REBRANDING 
You may also know that in early 2021, we moved to Florida. With that move necessitating a name change to my business entity — from Fringe Industries to KT Studio — plus the above-mentioned change to ownership of the Fringe Supply Co. brand, I’ve also rebranded this blog from Fringe Association to KT’s Slow Closet. (Its third name and second rename. Don’t worry, all the old links still work!) So for anyone who buys any of my for-purchase knitting patterns at this point, the charge will show up as KT Studio. And will I ever begin posting to this blog again? I won’t swear one way or the other, but …

KT STUDIO NEWS
… in addition to the Grainline x Fringe projects on the horizon, I have a few different irons in fires at the moment, some of which readers of this blog will want to know about. For those of you who’d like to keep up with future news of me, I’ve started a new mailing list, which I’ve given the very creative title of “KT Studio News.” If you’re interested, you can subscribe to that here.

I remain eternally grateful for all your time and support over the years, and look forward to keeping you updated on what happens next! 

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Gone makin’

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I’m writing this with a conflicted heart, but I’m here today to let you know that I’m putting the blog on hiatus. Short-term? Long-term? I honestly don’t know. I just know I’ve been writing this blog for 8+ years and I need a break — and a chance to focus on some other projects I can never quite get to. It’s a very hard decision to make because I value your company more than you know, but I’m not going away. I’ll still be knitting and sewing, obviously, and will strive to be better about sharing my makes on Ravelry and on my @karentempler feed on Instagram. I’m also aiming to do more with the @fringesupplyco feed, and I’m thinking of adding links and such to the shop newsletter, so make sure you’re following and subscribed accordingly. (There’s a newsletter signup field in the page footer here). I’m hoping this will lead to MORE creative output from me, and I still want to share it with you — just in different ways, for now.

Of course, Fringe Supply Co. marches on! And there are years’ worth of content in the archives that might be new to you, so I encourage you to explore it:

– All of the free patterns and how-to’s, including the top-down Improv tutorial
– The trove of pattern recs and links and stuff that fall under Finds
– The Hot Tips that make knitting life simpler and less stressful
– The Beginning to Knit archive of posts for anyone starting out or wanting to advance their skills
– And a peek behind the scenes with so many talented makers in Our Tools, Ourselves

Among many other things!

I’m so grateful to you for being here so far, and for all you’ve shared with me and taught me, and I hope you’ve found my work here useful in exchange. There’s definitely a next chapter, and I’m eager for the chance to figure out what shape it takes! So stay tuned, and thank you.

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2019: My sewing year in review

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My Sewing Year in Review: all the Fen mods

Any year that includes that magical striped dress up there is a good sewing year, in my book. But I think this was easily my most successful — if most myopic — year as a sewer. I sewed 12 things, some of which were never blogged but all of which are pictured here. Every one of them was completed during my Linenpalooza of summer-into-fall, fueled by the actual and neurotic need for suitable clothes for my India trip. (Although not all of them went with me.)

I think I mentioned before that this came about because I didn’t own clothing that was appropriate. Essentially all of my hot-weather clothes are sleeveless; my dresses are sleeveless and knee-length. It was going to be in the 90s the whole time and we would be outside for most or all of every day — everything I owned that was sufficiently modest would have been suffocating. Buying a whole travel wardrobe was not an option, so I bought some linen to augment what I already had in my stash, and I pulled out some of my tried-and-true patterns and began cutting.

The six garments above are all made from the same two pattern pieces of the Fen top, just modified in various ways: the striped and blurple dresses, the yellow dress, the black top, toffee top and cyan top. The four pants below are all from the Robbie pants pattern I’ve also made (with my modifications) many times before: pomelo, striped, blurple, toffee. The striped and blurple ones were both made from the scraps of the dresses, and I cut both a top and pants in the toffee color. From the scraps of the pomelo pants, I also scraped together the little pomelo top, below, which is from the Hemlock tee pattern (modified along some of the the same lines as before) with the amount of fabric determining the length of the body and sleeves.

Sewing year in review: Hemlock tee and Robbie pants

I had a lot of fun making the matching tops and pants, which can be worn together like faux jumpsuits but which also mix-and-match with the other pieces. And ultimately 10 of the above got packed for the trip, along with one RTW linen top (so I took 3 dresses, 4 tops and 4 pants) plus an 11th-hour surprise, the jacket below:

Sewing year in review: linen Wiksten Haori with travel pockets

The Sunday before we left, as I was neatly rolling my clothes and laying them into one side of my suitcase, I began to get anxious about the flights. And I convinced myself I needed to sew a jacket. I have no fear of heights or flying, but I am a little claustrophobic and I always told myself I couldn’t be sealed in a plane for 14 hours. So naturally when it came time to do that, I decided it would be fine if only I had a linen Wiksten jacket (lightweight! but fends off a/c! doesn’t take up too much suitcase space while not in use!) with perfectly scaled secret pockets for my passport and kleenex and earbuds and phone … . So that’s what I made for myself. And it worked.

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PREVIOUSLY: 2019 Knitting year in review

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2019: My knitting year in review

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My knitting year in review: Smock Vest, Grace pullover, garter stitch shawlette kerchief

There’s always something surprising to me whenever I look back through what I’ve made in a given year. This year it’s the fact that I made things! For some reason, I don’t feel like I did, and it may be because this is the first year I knitted more for others than for myself. I also sewed more than I knitted (more on that tomorrow), which is easy to do — especially when you’re as simple a sewer as me — but it turns out I did, in fact, knit this year. And I even crocheted.

For me, I knitted only three things, above, but I’m well pleased with them: my smock vest (improvised), my toffee-colored cable pullover (Grace pattern by Denise Bayron), and the little black kerchief (modified from a Purl Soho pattern) that is my constant companion these days.

My knitting year in review: Solbein cardigan, Gramps cardigan, April Hat, Anker's Jacket

I knitted four things for tiny nieces: The little colorwork cardigan being shared by Misses M and T; the bobble beret for their big sister R; the sunny cardigan for their new baby sister E; and the keepsake cardigan in memory of their baby cousin.

My knitting year in review: Cabled Dad Hat, Joanne hat

And then there are the two slight disappointments. The cable hat for Bob is a thing of beauty but the yarn has no recovery whatsoever and so isn’t well suited to this particular task. He gave it back to me and I’ve been wearing it on the trail, and need to knit him another one in a more elastic yarn. Similarly, the summer hat I crocheted for myself has sort of … wilted. I need to try it again at the nice tight gauge the pattern calls for.

All in all, a pretty successful knitting year — especially given how much those girls loved their gifts.

Please note that each of these things is linked to the original blog post about it where you can find further photos, links and details on patterns, yarn, modifications and so on — please click through to find out more! And if I left anything out, feel free to ask.

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PREVIOUSLY in FOs: Matilda’s cardigan

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Favorite New Favorites of 2019

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Best knitting patterns of the year (Bouquet by Junko)

I’m awed every single year when I scroll back through New Favorites to see how many fantastic patterns I’ve posted here, knowing they’re still only a fraction of everything that caught my eye and made me pause in admiration for a moment (or obsess for weeks or months). As is my annual custom, I’ve rounded up my very favorite favorites below — by which I simply mean the ones I personally have the strongest urge to cast on and wear. Each pattern listed includes a link to the post in which it originally appeared, if you want to see what I had to say about it at the time and more of what was featured alongside — or you can scroll through the entirety of New Favorites at any time or just the annual Favorite New Favorites roundups! So much beauty and talent to behold.

MY HIGHEST ESTEEM
In any given year, my absolute favorite pattern is not necessarily the most creative or innovative, and I tend to skew more heavily toward wearability regardless, but in my humble opinion the best pattern of 2019 is equal parts creative/innovative and wearable, above, and that’s Junko Okamoto’s Bouquet Sweater (from Junko’s abstract Bouquet). Her use of RS and WS floats in creating a variety of “bouquets” of flowers that are then asymmetrically scattered across the garment … it’s amazing in the concept and execution, and I have seen several really beautiful examples walking around in the world. I hope in 2020 I may have the courage to make it my colorwork project for the year. (Since I seem to pretty reliably do one per year.)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (sweaters)

SWEATERS
top: Column by Hiromi Nagasawa (from Simple pleasures)
row two, left: Tarn by Claire Walls (from Textured yokes)
row two, right: Eva by Julie Weisenberger (from Eva)
middle: Streaks by Keiko Kikuno (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, left: Escala by Alice Caetano (from Amirisu 19, all of it)
bottom, right: ふっくらケーブル模様のセーター by Yokota/Daruma (from Bulky beauties)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (scarves)

SCARVES and COWL
top: Dyyni by Sari Nordlund (from The ones I’ve been waiting for)
middle left: Isadora by Berroco (from Fall warm-ups)
middle right: No-Cable Cable Scarf by Purl Soho (from Cables for the Cable-averse)
bottom: Lierne Cowl by Bristol Ivy (from Amirisu 19, all of it)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (hats)

HATS
top: The Dawn Hat by Brandi Harper (from Holiday hat knitting cheat sheet: 10 skill-stretching patterns)
middle left: Oleander Reversible Hat by Laura Chau (from Texture, please!)
middle right: Hatdana by Denise Bayron (from Head kercheifs)
bottom: Hjarn Hat by Amber Platzer Corcoran (from Stranded purl hats)

. . . . .

Best knitting patterns of the year (socks)

SOCKS
top: Open Heart by Ainur Berkimbayeva (from Serious sock temptations)
bottom left: Chunky Slipper Socks by Churchmouse (from Simple pleasures)
bottom right: Thaba by Dawn Henderson (from Serious sock temptations)

. . . . .

I should note that my New Favorites picks aren’t always published within the year, and some of these may not have been 2019, but I’d love to hear what your favorites of the year have been!

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PREVIOUSLY in New Favorites: “Cables” for the cable-averse