The theme: Arizona Fair Isle.
Some random sweater anecdotes:
Many years ago, I copped out of illustrating Christmas cards and instead bought a “Make Your Own Ugly Sweater Greeting Card” kit from Paper Source. It contained photo postcards of sweaters with sheets of stickers to adorn each sweater.
In December 2005, during my freshman year of college, my friends and I went to RiverTown Crossings Mall. At Gap, I bought the coolest grandpa/Mr. Rogers cardigan - 100% wool, grey, large buttons, perfect fit. Nineteen years later, I still wear that sweater. But it’s pilling a lot…
This autumn, I attempted to replace that Gap cardigan. No luck, but I browsed through a lot of sweaters online, including Fair Isle styles. The online browsing inspired this year’s Christmas card.
Read about the history of the Fair Isle sweater here.
For a southwest/Arizona twist, I thought about replacing the wintery Fair Isle symbols of pine trees, snowflakes and deer with cacti, flowers and javelinas. But during an initial sketch, I remembered how ugly and shapeless (and unidentifiable) javelinas were and scrapped that idea. So instead: cacti, cacti flowers and lots of stars.
