Revisit a past F/O - Knit & Crochet Blog Week Day 6

Revisit a past F/O

Bring the fortune and life of a past finished project up to the present. Document the current state and use of an object you have knitted or crocheted, whether it is the hat your sister wears to school almost every day, or a pair of socks you wore until they were full of hole. Or maybe that jumper that your did just didn’t like that much…

I considered showing a lovely finished object (as if I've ever produced such a thing), but since I talked about the first time I bought 'nice' yarn in my One Great Knitter post, I figured I should try to bring this thing full circle. Then, as Paul Harvey said so many times, you'll know--the rest of the story.

When I came across the pattern Sahara, I thought it was so pretty and classy that I needed to do it 'right'. I'd just gotten burned trying to substitute yarn on a vest project, and ended up with a hideous pukey yellow thing instead of a vest. So I hopped down to my LYS and bought exactly the type of yarn that was recommended without looking at the price tag. After my minor heart attack at the cash register, I immediately started winding the yarn and cast-on. I had a lot of trouble with this yarn. It stretched in some places, but not in others, so I ended up with sad looking areas like this:

I call that 'stretched sadness'.
I also was none to skilled at short rows and picking up stitches. But in the end, there was a sweater:


It was soft! It was relatively OK looking! The problem? It encased me like I was a sausage. I had chosen to do the XS size, even though was recommended for a smaller bust than mine, because the sweaters I had made in the past usually ended up being too baggy. I tried 'extreme blocking': I soaked it down, put it on, and STRETCHED IT like crazy. I was like a woman possessed. It still didn't fit. I put it in my drawer and stopped knitting for a few months. Once my raging anger at the sweater had somewhat abated, I was able to evaluate what I'd learned: short rows, picking up stitches, weaving in ends, and perhaps most importantly, trust your designer (and use designers you know you can trust). Of course, this takes a little trial and error, and a little knitting knowledge on your part, but I've come to terms with the fact that it means making a few disasters before I get there.


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