09.14.06

The Sweater From Another Galaxy

Posted in Knitting, Sweater(s) at 5:40 pm by delipics

It is 2002 . . .

I am a new, enthusiastic knitter. I have under my belt a bag, scarves, and one hat disasterously knit on double-pointed needles. I convince myself I am ready for Very Easy Very Vogue, and I select pattern #17 from Vogue Knitting (Winter ‘01/’02) to be my first sweater project. It looks like a simple shilouette and hey, it’s all in garter stitch! (I was not really comfortable with purling at the time.) I buy the yarn in a deep plum purple, new Addi needles and I am off and running.

One year later . . .

It must have taken me four months each to knit the sweater front and back. They took forever and a day to knit. Okay, I know it did not help that I would knit a couple of inches and put it away for a couple weeks. Then I knit one sleeve . . . at a time! I learned pretty quickly that I should have knit them at the same time - I’ll never do that again. Then the seaming - ai yai yai! I finally get the damn thing all sewn together and even though it is longer in the body and sleeves then I wanted and a funky fit under the arms, I proudly wear it to work. The lesson I learned by the end of the day: acrylic yarn is hot and unbreathable. The yarn looked cute in the store, felt soft, knitted up easily but wearing it - unbearable. I put the sweater away and you know that thing you do? It’s the following winter, I unearth it from the bottom of the sweater bag and persuade myself it really wasn’t that hot wearing it and maybe if I wear it on one of the coldest days of the year it should be just fine. Then you wear it and you think, “Oh right, now I remember why I don’t wear this . . . ,” but you do this again and again each year. (I’ve done the same thing with several pairs of shoes.) Looking at the photo of it now it does seem alien to me. I finally regretfully put it away and spend the ensuing years avoiding adult sweaters.

It is time. I can no longer accept the excuses (although learning to spin yarn this summer was an excellent reason to put it off). Today I found this and this as possible projects. As you can see, today I am leaning more towards cardigans rather than sweaters but I am still looking around. Any suggestions out there in the blog-universe? I tend to like simple patterns because I don’t think I look good in anything with too much frou frou or bold patterns because of my petite-size, otherwise I remain open to anything. The sweater project research shall continue!

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