In the annals of knitting, the Christmas sweater is possibly one of the most notorious projects. Christmas sweaters are of necessity gaudy - gloriously so - and, worse, often given as (unwanted) gifts.
I have talked to many people who were scarred in childhood by the gift of a horrendous Christmas sweater which they were then forced to wear all day until the gifter left the house. The trauma stems not only from having to wear a colorful and tacky sweater, but from sweltering in it all day, to boot. (Why are houses always so hot at holiday gatherings?)
When it comes to the design of Christmas sweaters, anything goes. On the "fine, upstanding citizen" end of the scale you have your Fair Isle sweaters with reindeer prancing across the yoke. Most of these sweaters are either fire engine red or a relatively sedate green, with the colorwork in white.
At the other end of the scale you have intarsia monstrosities which incorporate tinsel yarns, and even jingle bells for the full holiday effect.
Christmas sweaters are so universally loathed that they have wrapped around again and become ironically cool. I happened to walk through a department store last week and passed a young hipster couple who were holding up Christmas sweaters in the Women's department and exclaiming over them with delighted glee.
Should you wish to knit your own Christmas sweater, the Mary Maxim patterns are a good place to start. Mary Maxim patterns are practically synonymous with retro kitsch, and the current patterns span the spectrum from the relatively sedate Snowflake Tunic to the, um, "vibrant" Poinsettia Cardigan.
If you just want an ugly Christmas sweater to wear to the office holiday party, look no further than eBay, where a search for "ugly Christmas sweater" turns up a staggering array of results.
Image courtesy Flickr/VancityAllie
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