It's gorgeous, but will I wear it?

It's a question I ask myself all the time when I'm shopping for clothes, but not so often when I'm deciding what to knit next. I'm drawn to patterns because I want to knit them, and rarely think about what will happen afterwards.

That's been fine while I've been knitting small things, like socks (can't go wrong with socks) but I'm looking around for my next big project, and am finding a bit of a gap between what I want to knit and what I want to wear.

Saved by the Polyvore

Polyvore is a fun new site which lets you pick and mix items from online stores to create your own collages. So for example, I've taken this central image of Capri by Sarah Hatton from Rowan Magazine 42 as my inspiration. It's a cute cardigan – and one I'd definitely wear – but I'm not a big fan of the gingham skirt they've teamed it with. A rockier t-shirt and a pair of jeans, like this outfit on the left, would look great with it, and is right up my street. I'd love to finish it off with a Majolica Vase bag from the Noni spring 2006 collection, and perhaps some cute earrings... (in case I ever get up the nerve to get my ears pierced) or perhaps a red sundress and heels... It's at this point that I started daydreaming, which is so easy to do with all the clothes in all the online shops in the world to choose from. And if something isn't available in Polyvore's database, just click your way through to the shops you love and add things straight from their site.

A girl can dream, can't she?

Shh! Don't tell our editor, but Polyvore is also really good fun for creating a dream wardrobe. As you might have guessed, I've got a bit of a thing for Noni bags. I haven't decided which one to knit yet though, and being able to create complimentary outfits with clothes I don't own (yet!) isn't making it any easier to choose. This pretty purple one is Nine to Nine from the spring 2006 evening collection, and should you take a fancy to any of the other items – this purple brolly, for example – you can just click through and Polyvore will link you straight back to the original shop which sells it.



Polyvore is packed with gorgeous clothes, but you have to look a bit harder for pretty yarns. As you can use images from shops all over the web, it's a great way to play around with palettes of colours, buttons, clasps and so on.

I rather like this Bergere de France top, but not in that shade. Navy, perhaps – or lime green, for a hotter piece... A quick look got me two images of the yarn in the colours I like, and then I spent a few minutes exploring the colours.


It's really rather addictive, and as you can have a go without even logging in (we love that!) why not show us your creations?