What Two Months Look Like

Fun fact: you can't schedule a post to publish if you forget to write the post. True story.

After making my first sweater (and what I mean by that is my first sweater that fits properly and that I'd wear in public, not first numerically as I made a few a looong time ago and then swore off of them until recently) I kind of got a bit of a bug for sweaters. I found a few patterns that seemed doable and logged more time than I should have in the yarn aisles at Joann's pondering colors.

I bought this pattern and spent an overly long time one evening simply staring at skeins of yarn on the store shelves. I'm sure the store employees are used to seeing yarnists considering their options, but an ordinary person would definitely wonder if someone was having some sort of out-of-body experience (obviously confusing it with what deep thought looks like). ANYway, I decided on Lion Brand's Heartland yarn in Acadia. I had a vision of sticking as close to this pattern as possible, even to the color.

So of course the first thing I did was decide to change the pattern (which is quite gutsy on my part as the prospect of correcting knitting mistakes strikes fear into my heart). I love cables, and they're not so terrifying once you get used to them (I say this based on my expertise of having done cables once. But they looked good, soooo....yeah. Expert). But I kept looking at this sweater and thinking that this particular cable was kind of chunky, and was going to hit me at a spot on my body that was not going to be wonderful. I'm already a bit buxom, so I don't need anything extra there, and I'm trying to rid myself of my tummy, not pile things onto it. Plus, I'm weird and where the heavier bit of that single cable fell on my body was going to drive me crazy (in that you're very aware of your stomach and it feels funny against your chest sort of way because all the weight is just right there. Just me? OK then). So I decided to go for all ribbing, even dropping the cables from the sleeves. If these were smaller all-over cables I'd have probably kept them as everything would be more evenly distributed.

I thought I'd stitch this thing out in no time (even at the tunic length I opted for). And if 'in no time' means the same thing as 'two months of knitting almost every day' then I nailed it. It's not as flattering as I'd hoped, but it's soft and squishy and warm, and I can't wait to wear it with leggings and boots (though you're seeing it with jeans that are adding some bulk to my belly. Pretend that's true, m'kay?). Ready?

At first pass I thought "Oh, this is going to need a belt to break up the length of this" but I'll have to see it again. I think two months of starting at this sweater had me a little bit fuzzy brained in its final assessment. Plus I didn't make it to wear with jeans, so until I wrestle myself into leggings the jury's out on accessories. I'm thinking a longer necklace might do just as well. Any thoughts?

Disclaimer: I'm taking these photos in the spare bedroom for better afternoon lighting. That is not my stuffed duck.

The yarn is so snuggly soft, and it washed up even more so. I'm glad you can't see the inside because sweater seaming is not one of my better skills, but so long as it all looks good from the outside I'm satisfied. It's a little bit bulky under the arms due to how it's made, but there's enough room that you don't feel it against your body. It looks like it's that way in the pattern photo, too, so I don't think I did anything wrong. I'm surprised that the sleeves are as long as they are (sleeves are always my problem area in everything, made or bought).

There are a few teeny mistakes here or there, but the give of the ribbing hides them, so if I didn't know they were there...I wouldn't know they were there. The neckband looked like it was going to bother me as written--I don't care for the contrast of the garter stitching against my lovely endless miles and miles of ribbing. My idea was to knit in stockinette so you'd see the smooth knit side when it rolled down, but a few rows in (after picking up a ton of stitches) I realized it was going to roll in instead of out as I wanted, and I was not frogging all those stitches. So I switched from knitting to purling for a few rows. The natural curl gives it the look below, where it looks like I alternated every few rows, but really just stitched until it rolled down just enough to still show the other stitches. Hey, at this point I wouldn't have been surprised if I had sewn the thing shut because, did I mention, two months?

I used to love turtlenecks that looked like they were swallowing your head, but I just can't wear those anymore as I can't stand anything like that snug against my neck. The height of this collar will be just right. There were a few little holes I had to muss over to hide from picking up the stitches and transferring from the holders and so on, but I think I did an OK job (and don't tell me if I didn't, hahaha). I really overthought if I should go back and add more to the collar, but I decided I'm happier with it this way instead of with the idea of a big thick roll of yarn around my neck.

I feel there may be an obsession brewing....I started another sweater today. But it's chunky yarn and I've got half of the back done already and I can quit anytime I want. Swearsies.