Tchotchkes & Frippery

Left: Why is there so much sweater? Right: Success! Or Billy Mays.

This sweater caught my eye a few weeks back in my local charity shop. The pattern was cute, I loved the colors, but it was two sizes too big! I’m a bit bottom-heavy, so I can’t pull off the oversized sweater look like some girls can. Like many too-big shirts and sweaters before it, I wrote it off and moved on.

Then I found craftycarmencita’s tutorial for altering sweaters. I figured altering sweaters would be impossible; I thought they’d unravel to shreds as soon as you cut off the excess. But no, it’s totally doable! Her tutorial gave me confidence, so first I tried it out on a too-big cardigan that had been sitting in my closet for over a year. It was a complete success! It barely took any time at all. So today after class I stopped at the charity shop and picked up this sweater for $2. A bit of stitching later, and voila!

Keep this in mind the next time you find a cute but too-large sweater while thrifting. Even if you’re a complete novice at sewing like I am, you can do this! Sweaters are much more forgiving than Tshirts since the stitches don’t poke any visible holes (so you can pull the stitches right back out if you mess up).

Would you get a load of these knit bangles? These have to be the cutest bracelets I’ve ever seen! It cost $0.50 for all three at my favorite little charity thrift shop. The big yellowy one still had its original tag on it, and it cost $7.50 at Old Navy! What a fantastic deal!

I love bangles, but I usually don’t wear them much because it bothers me when they’re constantly slamming into my hands whenever I lower my arms. The soft knitting makes that a non-issue! I absolutely adore these colors too, so I think these bracelets might have been designed specifically for me.

If you like them and know how to knit around things, you could probably make some like this for yourself! Just pick up an unloved bangle for a quarter or two at a thrift shop, pick out the perfect yarn, and you’re good to go! If you don’t know how to knit but you’re handy with a glue gun, you could probably achieve a similar effect by wrapping the yarn around it in tidy lines. The bangle underneath these is a light black so that if any of it shows between the stitches it just looks like a shadow. It probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to hit any bangle you plan on knitting over with a quick coat of light black spray paint, especially if the bangle’s a bright color and/or you’re using a dark yarn, Be sure to use a spray paint appropriate for the material your bangle is made out of.

This pastel Aeropostale sweater is a bit out of the ordinary compared to what I usually wear (lots of neutrals and muted colors), but it’s just so cheery and cute, I couldn’t pass it up! My camera isn’t always good at showing the subtlety of colors, so this photo looks a bit brighter and more saturated than the sweater truly is, it’s quite pastel (but not eastery). You can’t be sad wearing this sweater!

Aeropostale sweaters generally sell new for around $30-$40, so the $3 I paid for this at Goodwill equals an enormous deal! Not that I’d ever pay $30 for a sweater to begin with, mind.

Another cute sweater from the bag sale! I love the rich kelly green on this pretty little sweater. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like my camera does! The sweater portion of the picture looks kind of low res… My camera just doesn’t like complex colors, I suppose.

This cute little sweater cost approximately $1.33!