December 11, 2018
Bought the yarn Saturday, but let it marinate till Monday night. I have fears. I’m afraid it will be too heavy a sweater. That my yarn is to heavy for it cause I couldn’t find colors in the right weight. I’m afraid it won’t fit, that it’ll drag down, that it will look stupid. That my colors aren’t right. That I wasted my money.
I really dislike those thoughts. I’m carrying on anyway because the pattern makes me smile, because the yarn colors I chose are pretty, because the knitting will be fun to do and because sometimes you just have to make a leap of faith and do it.
December 23, 2018
Switched to a 4.5 mm needs on the plain purple row after the green.
I’ve done a try on, and it fits. This sweater is unlike my usual choice of pattern. I’m enjoying going out of my comfort zone.
January 3, 2019
I’m at the bottom set of flowers. Progress slowed as I need to give my hands a rest from pushing all those stitches around the needles. The sleeves will seem a doddle in comparison.
January 12, 2019
Finished the body and my ribbing flips up, with dedication and gusto. Blocking is not going to fix this. Searched the net, found the fix and now I have to rip it out and reknit it doing this:
- Go down one needle size (from 4mm to 3.75mm)
- Knit the last stockinette row using the ribbing needles.
- Slip the knit stitches of the first rib row
- Optionally decrease some stitches. I’m not going to do this because I don’t want the bottom to pull in.
I already started the neck so I’m going to finish that first, then rip. Sigh Finishing is such sweet sorrow.
Oh, and then there are still sleeves to knit!
I think this is going into timeout. It has to be the most unflattering sweater ever. Bleh.
January 12, 2019
Gauge is 22 x 23, so wider and longer than the required gauge of 23 x25. So it’s actually longer, but it’s still too short for me.
January 13, 2019
Thanks to a great deal of encouragement from Facebook friends this is back on the needles. The theory is that it will hang differently after steeking and blocking. I’m going to add one more repeat of flowers then finish off so the hem won’t flip.
February 2, 2019
It’s FINISHEDish. I may want to lengthen the sleeves a bit, maybe, I think. It’s soaking now and after it is blocked I will see.
It is gorgeous. It fits. But the jury is still out on whether this design looks good on me.
February 4, 2019
Sleeve length came out perfect! How did I do that? Well, I did pull on them when I blocked to lengthen them, but still.
I’m much happier with it today. I’m going to name it my Couch Cuddler.