Posted by amy at March 21st, 2006

Spring is coming, and my urge to purge is getting stronger. Each day I pull out some piece of clothing from my closet and cringe at how it fits, and how it makes me look. I remember this feeling, but it is different this time. In past Springs, this process almost always revealed that I had indeed gained 7 lbs over the winter and that clothes that barely fit last fall should not be worn in public this spring. Not this year. Everything is too big - which is affirming, but also frustrating. So in less than two hours, I have an appointment with a clothing consigner who will sift through the fabric of my life, keeping things she deems resalable and the rest will go to the Salvation Army.

One of the themes on the amples knitting list is a running coversation about knitting for yourself, at your size. What if you lose weight, will that knitting have been for naught? I must tell you when I knit each of the above sweaters, I never thought I’d actually lose weight - or enough so that wearing of the sweaters would be a problem. I knit sweaters that I wanted to wear in that moment. The black one on the bottom was my contribution for the Mirror Mirror project at MagKnits, the middle one a vest I made for my incredibly straight husband who declared even he wasn’t secure enough in his hetrosexuality to wear a sweater with those color combinations, and top one, my first shapely tee. Each was a process, a fun process, with mistakes and victories in each. And even though they are leaving my house today, the knitting will not have been a waste of time or yarn. I learned something about knitting and about myself in each of those projects. I learned that a big girl shouldn’t wear a sweater made out of big stretchy yarn, or that the bottom hem of the shapely tee should really be made with a seed stich, not rows of garter, or else it flips up on your tummy roll. I learned that my husband needs to pick out his own yarn before I cast on for anything I intend to have him wear. And I’ve learned what I would like to make again, only differently - like the corset from last winter, or another shapely tee.

These weren’t knitting mistakes, they were knitting adventures. And so to all the ample readers of this blog, I say embrace your body for who you are now. Knit to fit your bust, your belly, your arms and your hips and if, someday in the future, your no longer look fantastic in your hand knits - free them to the world, and make room in your closet for your next knitting adventure.

Good by suits, sweaters, pants and tops, may your next body find happiness putting on each piece.