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Inspiration: The Dreaded Christmas Sweater

You’ve got to love a holiday that comes with its own genre of knitwear. Unfortunately, Christmas Sweaters have gotten a bad rap, and now the only times you see them are either:

On your Great Aunt Muriel.
On the receptionist at your middle school. The one with the big glasses and puffy, permed hair.
At ugly sweater parties.

Not fair, I say!

Let’s take a look at some Christmas Sweaters that aren’t that bad.

Not a traditional Christmas Sweater, but totally adorable. And, I’m sure, super toasty for walks over the river and through the snow.

Boreal by Kate Davies

A 1950s-inspired shape with adorable little reindeer and a neat triangle pattern on the front.

The Perfect Christmas Jumper by Susan Crawford

OK, so this one is definitely Christmas-y. But, look, you can choose between plum pudding, snowmen, and Christmas Pigs! (All right, they’re probably supposed to be reindeer, but with their little pink noses, they totally look like pigs. I suppose you could change their antlers into little pointy ears if you wanted to really run with the whole Christmas Pigs angle.)

Love Yarn Christmas Jumper by Fiona Bennet

But, you know what? The Christmas Sweater is so earnest, so self-aware, and so uncaring of what people think of it. The Christmas Sweater knows what it is, and is completely OK with its cheerful tackiness. I can’t let a post about Christmas Sweaters go by without including an actual, honest-to-goodness tacky Christmas Sweater. So here you go:

Patons Christmas Sweaters by Patons UK

Inspiration: Princess Bubblegum

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Have you ever seen the cartoon “Adventure Time?” No? Well, if you’re not a 12 year old, that kind of doesn’t surprise me.

It’s a sometimes funny, sometimes touching, always surreal show about a boy (Finn the Human) and his magical, shape-shifting, talking dog/brother (Jake the Dog). They go adventuring around the post-apocalyptic “World of Ooo” righting wrongs and getting into trouble.

One of my favorite characters on the show is Princess Bubblegum. She’s the monarch of the Candy Kingdom (and literally made of bubblegum). She’s sometimes a benevolent overlord to her subjects, and sometimes a semi-terrifying mad scientist. But, she’s always an independent lady and quite a bit of a badass.

Last week’s episode had PB going on a quest through a darkly mysterious wood, into a magic pond, and into a dark witch’s house. And, being the practical gal she is, Ms. Bubblegum dressed appropriately:

The next time I go on an adventure, I know what I want to wear! A sassy, long cozy pullover, comfy pink tights, and practical purple combat boots. And, of course, my tiara.

Cozee, by Voolenvine

Berwick, by Kristen Rengren

Inspiration: Castle

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I’ll admit it, like most people who watch Castle, it took me a couple years before I really started to get into the show. The real reason I started watching it was because Firefly had been canceled (so sad), and I wanted to watch something with my favorite space-cowboy-pirate in it. Nathan Fillion doesn’t play the same character, but this did happen in season two, and it’s pretty delightful:

But, I suppose you came here for the knitwear, so here you go:

Super cute, right? It’s a pullover with set-in sleeves and a hood (I think, though it might be a sailor collar. Would you believe that she doesn’t turn around the whole episode? Seriously infuriating.), and a great chunky cable running up the front. The cable up the front is actually made of two smaller cables that mirror one another, then when it reaches the hood, the cables split and continue up the hood, which looks pretty cool. And, while this is clearly a store-bought sweater, you could make one yourself pretty easily. Here are a couple sweaters with similar shapes:

Mountain V-Neck Sweater by Kathy Cea (This is the right cable, but the sweater shape is perhaps better suited for a man)