Making it Work!

Thanksgiving weekend is usually the time when I go up into the attic and take stock of our holiday decorations. I usually find some forgotten treasures up there as well as some winter clothing that needs to be brought down, washed and used.

In the case of the latter I found a bag of my son’s things and, to my shock and dismay, right beside it a bag of my sweaters!  This bag was to have gone into my office closet with some cedar sachets I’d made, but in his helpful enthusiasm was put into the attic by Stuart along with his coats and jeans.

I hoped against hope that there was no damage, and remarkably only one sweater showed signs of plunder. The bad news is that it was a favorite light grey cashmere cardigan. The left shoulder was absolute swiss cheese from moth damage  and there were holes scattered around the body.  I realized that the reason no other sweaters had any damage is that the cashmere was sitting on top of the stack, presented like a gourmet meal.

I brought it downstairs with me and began a pathetic attempt at mending the holes, but the repairs were quite obviously visible in the fine gauge knit. I thought about embroidering on top of the repairs to conceal them, but was a bit leery about taking on such a detailed project.  Then another idea; I would dye the cardigan (cashmere takes dye quite well) and some DK weight wool to match, then knit and crochet some foliage to applique on top of the damage. The pieces took about an hour and a half to make and another hour to sew on while watching Project Runway. In the words of Tim Gunn, ”Make it work!”

I’m pretty happy with the results and look forward to wearing this:

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Tags: cashmere repair crochet knit leaves flowers applique

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