This sweater has a bit of a story. I actually completed it in November of 2007. Then there was…an incident. Without having checked the ball band first, I allowed my mom to wash it on the gentle cycle. She then laid it out to dry. When it was dry, it looked felted. Despite all of our efforts, we couldn’t get it to look like it had before at all - it was completely shrunk. It was then that I bothered to look at the ball band and discovered that I’m not supposed to get this yarn wet. It was also right about then that I think I blacked out…

I tried really hard to repair the damage, but it was just impossible. Over the summer, I completely frogged it. That, of course, ruined the already ruined yarn even further. I’ve kept it as scrap yarn, which has been helpful in trying to achieve gauge before I start a project.

I loved this pattern, and I love this yarn, so I bought it all over again and have cast on. This was a rather time-consuming way to learn to always read the ball band first. That’s one mistake I won’t make again.

4/25/10 - So I finally decided to pull this out again. I can’t remember when I put it into hibernation. It was really such a silly thing to do - the body was finished up to the armholes, but when I saw that I had to start binding off and working the front and back, I decided to abandon it in favour of something completely mindless. But today I started thinking about this sweater and really missing it. I ripped back a few inches because it just seemed too long, and I think this sweater will be more attractive if it comes just a bit below the waist, rather than being all tunic-y. These days, I’m working really hard against start-i-tis. I keep wanting to cast on for a billion different projects all at once, so I figured it would be easier to go back to some of the projects which I had abandoned. This time, I’m much happier with the bind-off edge for the armholes. I’ve learned a lot since the last time that I made this sweater, and I think it’s going to have a much nicer fit this time around.

7/30/11 - Holy shit, it’s done. Done done done done DONE! I can’t believe it took me 3 years to finish this because truly, it was so easy. I kept putting it off and putting it off, and it really only took a few extra days of work. I brought it with me to San Francisco to visit Stacey, and last night while we were hanging out after doing some screen printing, I finished this. Technically it’s not 100% done because I really want to do the crocheting around the seams to bolster it and make it stronger, but it’s cold in San Francisco in July, so I’m going to be wearing it. Wearing anything automatically makes it an FO.

I did a sewn-bind off for the neck and I really think it looks perfect. That bindoff gave me SO many issues the first time around because I had no idea how to do any kind of special bind-offs, so I kept just trying to do it loosely enough that it wouldn’t be bunchy. I also decided to do the cowl neck so that the knit side would be facing out. I just thought it would look sloppy to have it be the purl side. Wow…I cannot believe it’s finished.

8/28/11 - Okay, I’m actually 100% done with this today. I did the crocheting around the seams/joins so that the sweater wouldn’t stretch or pull apart. I originally did them with the hook size the pattern suggested, F/5 - but it made everything SO tight. I foolishly did all of the seams, even though I wasn’t 100% happy with the way they were turning out. Then, of course, once I had found out how to fix that problem, I had to rip the seams out and redo them. This time, I used a J/10 hook and was VERY happy with the results. (BTW, I find it annoying that you cannot note the hook size you used for the project on Ravelry, since crochet & knitting are kept separate.) Then I picked up some stitches at the bind off for the collar and the bottom of the sweater to do some purl rows. I had realized that everything on the sweater - minus the sleeves - were curling…and curling the WRONG WAY. This time, I did a super stretchy bind off instead of a sewn one. I think it looks really good. I’m not 100% sure about the way the cowl lies, but that’s because so far it’s really hard for me to control. I’m happy to have it perfect and done though. I feel like there are all these little things I’ve been meaning to do on projects for awhile and just putting off because I hate finishing so much. Even though I hate it, it needs to be done, and I’m the only one who will do it!

I used almost all of the yarn. I know it says 4.9 skeins, but really it’s only about 2.5 that I used.