Sweater Drama

I've got a real problem with sizing lately. Between the debacle with the tunic for me and the sweater I'm going to tell you about today, you might start passing some judgement on my skills.

I recently finished one (of the two) holiday sweaters for my boys. Wait...what? The holidays were almost half a year ago. Yeah, well those cables took me longer than expected. Plus, I've been distracted by a lot of drawing in the past year. I'm sort of on a drawing bender (please refer to title of blog for explanation). I'm shooting for new sweaters for next holiday season :)

It looks like nothing is wrong from this angle. Just wait.

The pattern I chose to knit is Mariah by Janet Szabo. Ms. Szabo has a lot of designs in her collection (one more beautiful than the next btw) and so I'm assuming whatever went wrong was me, not her.

Anyway, one is finished, and it's not perfect. I realize now that I chose the wrong size for my boy (or maybe my gauge was off, but I actually don't think so). Even though I took the proper measurements, the whole thing is way too wide. If I knitted it longer in the arms and torso it probably would fit me!

Woo, this is one wide sweater.

The actual knitting part of the project was great. I loved the cables and as always, it was a thrill every time I saw them emerge from nothing. Knitting cables is magic. If you've never done it, you should. They are actually not as hard as you'd think, but you do need to keep your wits about you.

There were two things I did to make the cable knitting process as foolproof as possible on this project. First, I sliced apart the pdf cable instructions and created my own all-inclusive cable chart to work from. I couldn't handle remembering if I was supposed to be looking at chart A, B, C, etc. Also, I always kept a lifeline in my knitting...because unknitting cable stitches is one of Dante's circles of hell. (For those who don't know what a lifeline is, see this video. I actually use dental floss for this because it's easy to slip in and out without disturbing the texture of the yarn.)

Anyone with a pet bird will know who frayed these pages.

In my defense on the neckline, I did extend the saddles a couple inches on each side to try to minimize the neck a little, and it still turned out rather huge. This sweater is borderline Flashdance.

Want to know the craziest thing of all? My little one loves it. He wears it all the time, even to school. So, that is sort of a win because I've knit sweaters that fit him beautifully that he never requests to wear. I think part of his attraction might be the color. It is golden-yellow dreamy! The yarn is Knit Picks Wool of the Andes in Tumeric. I never got tired of that color when I was knitting. Never!

Now, here's my dilemma. Do I charge ahead and make sweater #2 from the same pattern? Or do I try something else? I better make my mind up soon. The holidays are only 7 months away...

Cassandra