Have you Heard of Swants?

Since I haven't gotten any links on my Facebook page, I will have to assume that most of you have not yet seen the swants sensation sweeping the internets.

Picture from Stephen West's blog here.

Stephen West, a very popular knitwear designer, put up a tutorial on how to make swants--sweater pants. In this case it was not only a tutorial, it was the genesis of a fad. It remains to be seen whether it's a fad to look and stare at or a fad to actually wear, but it got a mention on the Today Show so you know it has to be big.

I highly recommend following the link and looking at some of the other pictures on his post. (Skip the tutorial if you want and head to the end of the post.) Someone on Ravelry got it right when she said that you have to think of this as performance art, not clothing design.

If that is not enough swants-iness for you, then click here for his swants dance video. (It's shot in Iceland so at least the scenery will be good!)

Where this hits home for me is that I have been looking in the second hand stores for a while for a men's large sweater in silk or cashmere to convert to longjohns--essentially swants. But I was looking long before this post went up. And you can see from this post from 2010 that he isn't the first to think of it. I think he just used the loudest sweaters.

PS: I've heard lots of people say this would be a perfect extension of the classic "ugly Christmas sweater" party. Think about it...