#mostworn: Part 2

Hi friends!  As promised, I’m back with Part 2 of my #mostworn post.  As a quick refresher, or if you’re just joining us, Kate of Rosalind Craft Supplies suggested a few months ago that we should celebrate our most worn knits. She nominated me to share my highly loved knits in the categories of torso, neck, and feet (you can read her whole excellent post here).  Last Friday, I wrote about my #mostworn sweater.  Today, I’m sharing my most worn accessories.

Neck

Brighton Cowl, by Thea Colman, knit in the Uncommon Thread Posh DK (Age: almost 1.5 years, Rav project page here)

This has been my most worn neckwear for quite some time.  I love Thea Colman’s pattern — and this one I remember as being particularly addictive to knit!  I think the reason I love this cowl so much is the very versatile length.  I often wear it indoors around my neck and open — but then when you pop out side and it’s cold, it’s just long enough that you can wrap it very comfortably around your neck.

The yarn is also suuuuper scrummy.  The Uncommon Thread has really gorgeously dyed yarns.  I think she has a particularly amazing way with greys.  And it’s soft — a mix of 70% wool, 20% silk and 10% cashmere.  The Ravelry yarn page specifies that the wool is BFL, which I didn’t know.  But, as with the sweater that I talked about Friday (which you can see I’m wearing in these pictures as well), the softness has come at a price — it has, after very heavy use last winter, pilled.  I mind pilling less in accessories — they take last time to knit, after all.  But I have found I’ve worn it less this winter (which could also be because it was at the bottom of my scarf basket …).  I need to give it a go over with my sweater brush — I bet I colud get rid of a lot of those pills!

Taking a (long-ish) view, this is undoubtedly my most worn neck item.  But this fall, another item has been in very constant rotation — this gorgeous Campside Shawl, knit for me by my sister in Madelinetosh Silk/Merino DK in Ink:

This is so big and squishy — I love that I can really wrap up in it.  This and starting to wear my Mara shawl a bit more have really gotten me into the idea of having lots of big, wrappable triangles in my shawl collection. (Also, how amazingly talented is my sister — isn’t this thing gorgeous??  I feel super lucky she made it for me!)

Feet

This one was easy! I’ve made a decent number of pairs of sock, but hands down my most worn are these plain jane, vanilla socks (Ravelry tells me they’re Gusset Heel Basic Socks, by Wendy D. Johnson) knit in Zitron Trekking XXL. (Age: Just under 2.5 years, Ravel’d here)These socks have seen a lot.  They’ve gone through periods of extremely heavy wear (think everyday use on trips to cold climes with not enough warm socks), they’ve gone on scenic hikes, they’ve been shoved into my favorite boots, and they’ve acted as house socks.  And given all this, I think they’ve held up remarkably well.  You can see in the picture above that there’s a hole threatening in the big toe region on the right.

There’s been some mild pilling on the cuffs and more substantial felting in the high wear areas: the ball of the foot and the heel.  But to me, this just adds to their comfort and charm!  It’s like they’re perfectly molded to my foot.

Right after Kate asked me about my #mostworn, though, my lovely socks, as if sensing that I was about to finally recognize the years of hard work they’ve put in, gave up just a little bit : you can see, espeically on the left sock, that two little holes have appeared (exacerbated, no doubt, by my very dry heels — put on some moisturizer already, say my socks!).  But I’ve unearthed the remnants of the Zitron yarn I used for these and will be darning them soon — no way am I giving up on these yet!  And I think it’s a testament to the Zitron yarn (a blend of 75% wool and 25% nylon) that they’ve held up as well as they have after so much wear (and, er, rather infrequent washing).

In a lot of ways, these socks embody what I think is so awesome about Kate’s #mostworn idea.  These humble socks are probably the piece of knitwear I’ve worn more than any other, but if not for #mostworn, I probably wouldn’t give a second thought to reflecting on them and sharing.

Head

Kate didn’t originally include head in her post, but because hats are, after socks, one of the items that I wear almost daily in the colder months, I thought I’d just quickly tip my hat (tehe) to my favorites.  My #mostworn was, for a long time, my version of another THea Colman pattern, her Black Tea hat, which I love.  Sadly, I haven’t seen it since I left New Zealand (you can see a bit of how its worn over time in this picture from the trip!).  I’m hoping it’s just gotten tucked somewhere in the process of moving and isn’t lost forever! Without it, I’ve been wearing my Oslo Watch Cap and Fidra very regulary. I love hats with a bit of slouch, and increasingly, ones with a folded brim!  And no need to worry about my bugbear, pilling, in hats since they don’t come into contact with all that much!

So there you have it!  I would love to hear about your #mostworn, whether you choose to devote a blog post to it, share on Instagram, or tell me about it in the comments (if the two former, feel free to let me know by commenting here or tagging me @fiberandsustenance on Instagram! I don’t want to miss it!)  And while I can’t emphasize enough that I’d love to see #mostworn posts from anyone who is so moved (as Kate said, let’s fill the blogosphere with much loved knits!), Kate did ask me to nominate two people, so as instructed, here goes!  Madgeface of Little Golden Notebook and Allison of Anti-Quotidian, care to share your #mostworn? (No pressure, of course!)

Thanks for stopping by and letting me share the knits I wear the most with you!  And if you missed last week’s post, you can find it here.

Happy Friday!