Hand knitted Sweaters and Bollywood....

I recently watched the Bollywood film "Tubelight" and although I did not enjoy the film too much,what I did love were the lovely hand knitted sweaters worn by the entire cast. Knitting in India is not as popular as it once was. When I was a child, moms and grandmoms were usually knitting by September to have new sweaters to wear for the winter. My Grandma used to make our school sweaters as well as fun colorful sweaters for me and my brother. Growing up, a handmade sweater was just taken for granted. The moment I saw the handmade vests I was transported back to the time of the clicking of metal needles. My grandma would unroll the shank of yarn and settle it on her knees and then roll it into a ball. I would sometimes ask to do it too. There is something really warm and nostalgic about seeing the handmade stitches on these sweaters. The machine ones are great but when I see someone wearing a handmade sweater I always think someone must love this person a lot to knit them a sweater. Just like my Grandma did for me!

Now whenever I visit home, usually in December, it saddens me to see fewer and fewer people wearing hand made sweaters. So it filled my heart with joy to see the beautiful, intricate and lovely sweaters in this film. I am attaching some screen grabs so that people see what I mean. At a later date, I will try to find free patterns which match these styles a little and update that in the links, for people who want to copy Salman's style.

All images courtesy Kabir Khan Films and Salman Khan Films. I do not intend infringement of any copyright.