The preamble
I love chunky knits, I love the rustic and rugged sensibility of them and the utility they provide living in Canada where our temperatures vary so wildly season to season. My first true investment/grail piece was an SNS Herning Stark at the height of its popularity in the mid 2010’s, I still love it and being a Cardigan it’s way more versatile than a pullover when coming in from the cold.
Last year I went down a knitwear rabbit hole and I’m still struggling to clamber out of it. Prior to disappearing into a wool wonderland, most of my clothing budget had been invested into outerwear. I have coats on coats on jackets on jackets, so much so that the closet rod broke from the weight and needed to be reinforced. But I’m a knitwear guy now, having scratched the jacket itch enough for the foreseeable future.
There was one piece that I really wanted, a proper Shawl Collar Cardigan. I wanted something thick, sumptuous and with a proper pillowy roll. There are a lot of SCC’s out there, but most lack the most important feature to me, that luxurious collar. For that you need to look to the British Isles, heritage style, and Scotland in particular. Scotland is renowned for its knitwear and along with Italy is responsible for much of the high end and luxury european knitwear market. It’s hard to compete with their expertise and the special qualities of their soft waters in producing incredibly refined pieces.
You can find excellent examples available at Drake’s, No Man Walks Alone, The Armoury, Cordings, Campbell of Beauly, Colhay’s. All with pricing above $400. The second hand market on ebay isn’t much better either, though I kept looking. Eventually I scrapped the dream and settled on a Shawl Collar Cardigan produced by Richmond Knitwear (UK based) in a heavy oatmeal wool.
The Richmond Knitwear version is made of new wool, so it’s fairly coarse and has a faint odour of lanolin. It’s heavy, weighing nearly 3lbs, and has a nice thick collar.
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I have wracked my brain, tried a bunch of different things and cried over this cardigan. This is my last ditch effort at figuring this out before I burn the damn thing and laugh maniacally over its ashes.
I bought this pattern called the Celery Seed cabled cardigan with the intent on changing the collar. He wants a big shawl collar. He's a big guy so I made the largest size written and it didn't come close to closing around his gut in the front. I added to the length with no problem. Adding to the front has been trial and error but the shape around the neck and chest seems to fit him properly. Adding a shawl collar is what has me hung up.
He also wants buttons. He bought some big ol' buttons. 1.25"
Anyway, I attached photos here and used white paper as contrast and added measurements so you can see what I'm working with. The front additions overlap a lot when laid flat but not when worn.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to proceed? Should I frog the front addition and do something different? I don't mind frogging. I'm desperate for a solution!
https://preview.redd.it/fnx7b3xv89361.jpg?width=3480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0f3003e53c476aae754ce00167a7028d0c9a5d6b
https://preview.redd.it/9pcnuiod89361.jpg?width=3480&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ebaa5632a5dffaf32c93959f6b096962e4442d24
Basically, what is the situation each of you use them? I think sleep shawl is only great if you can have 2 of it, due to the duration of the item, right? While when you need to block a lot of monsters but cant afford pendulet or shawl you just use foxtail amulet ( and everyday amulet) and then collar of blue plasma as the max DPS amulet when you dont need defense from shawl or pendulet?
What are the ways you RPs out there do this?
I was thinking of posting this regardless and then I realized that Dieworkwear just posted a very good guide to the current season's options for shawl collar cardigans.
I should note: I definitely went through a heavy SCC phase and though I've begun thinning the herd, I still have at least four (cashmere, wool, cotton, and linen, respectively) because I love the style so much. For me, it's partially because the collar gives the cardigan extra eye appeal that a plain cardigan simply doesn't have. Sometimes, instead of a sport coat, I'd wear a SCC instead, pairing it with wool or thick knit ties to help complement the knit of the sweater.
Moreover, for colder months, a proper SCC, like Dieworkwear writes, is "chunky enough that they function like outerwear, but feel soft and cozy enough for wearing around the house." (I spend a lot of time working from home so I appreciate the last part).
I'm guessing, within the menswear retail world, we hit Peak SCC a few years back but while more mainstream fashion brands have begun to dial things down, to me, the style is timeless. As such, more traditional menswear outlets will always carry them regardless of how the fast fashion world reacts. For sheer selection, Ralph Lauren always seems to have a diversity of SCC styles and though pricey, their RRL options are killer. That $1400 "wool-blend ranch SCC" looks incredible. But uh, yeah. $1400. I mean, that's $200 more than O'Connell's 12-ply cashmere SCC (that's...a lot of ply!).
For a long time, I lusted after an Inverallen 6A, with its thick, cable knit but earlier this year, I was lucky to catch a used Epaulet Coastline Cardigan and especially with its open weave, it's more practical for my clime.
Dieworkwear recommended, as an affordable option, these [A&F "c
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