Sweater Saga

Woohoo! I finished my first sweater a couple of days ago--I'm wearing it even now.
It must have been a year or more ago that an Anthropologie magazine came out with an appealing shrug in chunky yarn, and I cut out the picture, enthralled with the idea that it looked simple, like something even I could make, and for less than $98, for sure!

Other knitters jumped on that idea, too, and I found a tutorial online for the Anthropologie-inspired capelet, but made by a cute, teeny-beeny college knitter. Since it was my First Sweater (hey, I know it's a shrug, but since I've kept to accessories, a garment for me counts as a sweater), I lacked the confidence to swatch it out and recalibrate it for my more robust dimensions. So the picture and the tutorial languished in the back of my folder of patterns.

My glee ignited, though, when I found another interpretation of the same garment in the Interweave Knitscene of fall 2006. They had made it in red and marked it as a bolero in the 'Folklorico' section, but I spotted it instantly. And Knitscene kindly provided a range of sizes to choose from.

I ordered six skeins of Knitpick's Panache, and started working on the project this summer. Since it's a buttonless cardigan-type design, I didn't get to knit round and round, and my purling can get slow. So I knit, and all through a couple of days when family visited, while looking at houses online with my brother, I knit, and knit, and knit.....
Then I hurt my shoulder in September, so, while I could still knit, thank Maude, I couldn't hold up the weight of the shrug-in-progress, so I worked on Christmas scarves instead.

Recovered this fall, I turned back to the project and realized that I fell short on yarn. I must have miscalculated, I thought, and sent for another two balls. When they arrived, I knitted desultorily on it as a kind of boring penance between more exciting lace and Fair-Isle projects. This thing just went on and on, and I tried to accept the disappointment that other people could knit sweaters and I would never finish even a capelet.

I like knitting scarves, and love knitting hats, and harbor a great fondness for wristwarmers and mittens, so I told myself I didn't care. Eventually, I returned to the project, and couldn't find any more yarn for it. Then I got determined. I'm going to get that thing off the needles, 'cuz I need those Size 13's for that felted bag, I told myself. The raglan sleeves were half-done, and I only needed to get to the neck, when I ran out of yarn again. This time I thought maybe I'd try it on, just to see if it looked like I should start the neck shaping. I mean, I was never going to finish it, but it wouldn't hurt to see how much more I had to go.

Well, I'm sure you can guess what happened--instead of coming just below my bust, the unfinished garment hung down to my waist. Instead of touching my neck, the finished edge comes just past my collarbones.

I had gotten gauge!

Looking at the pattern again, I saw that I hadn't measured myself, just picked the largest size. As it turns out, I don't possess a 50-inch bust.

But, looking on the bright side, I do have a sweater. Maybe I'll make another one in a smaller size, in red next time.

--Jaala

Welcome to the circus!