I was so proud of myself. I'd finished all the pieces to the lace sweater, had woven in all the ends, and was patiently sewing it together tonight. Picked up stitches around the neckband ready to finish up the finishing when all of a sudden . . . as I started to pick up the stitches at the top of the right sleeve I realized, "Oh no, I sewed the sleeve in wrongside out. Shit!"
"Damn. Damn. Damn."
Rip, rip, rip.
Then realized, even worse, that in unsewing it, I had damaged the sleeve too much to salvage it. It's a mess. Now I need to re-knit the right sleeve before I can get back to finishing. This sweater has been a pain all around. Everything is harder/more complicated than it has to be. I believe it's symbolic of my whole life right now.
Starting over on that sleeve. Again. I could cry. Maybe I'll cry later. I need to cry about a lot of petty things. Is this hormonal or what? I'm putting the damn sweater away for tonight. Not doing another thing on it when I'm this flustered.
Addendun: Note the next morning: The Sweater Saga gets even worse. After writing this entry, I marched upstairs and thought, "You know what, the sleeve isn't really that messed up, it's just the perfectionist in me wanting it to be perfect, so I decided to go ahead and finish up the neck and see how the sleeve looked once it actually was sewn in. Well, the sleeve was okay, not great, but not terribly noticeable to a person riding by on a horse etc., etc. So I had everything finished but the two side seams, so I decided to "try it on" to see how it would fit.
Oh Lordy, it's not exactly too big - my gauge was on target and the measurements were right, but the thing comes down like an oversized tunic and the main problem is, it comes down really low in both the back and front. It's scooped L-O-W. It looks like a big, baggy, holey monstronsity on my body. Granted, I haven't sewn the two side seams yet. Maybe that will make a big difference. But I don't think this sweater is a success. After spending two months and a lot of yarn, it may sit at the bottom of a drawer somewhere languishing for the next few years. Arrggggh!!!!
And it looked so cute on the model.
10 comments:
Oh, Chelle. When your life is like a tossed salad, things like this are more likely to happen.
I know that with this computer changeover (which took about 5-6 weeks before my calendar/palm system was working) I finally just broke down and bawled. It did really help, I felt more calm afterward... even though nothing had really changed.
When I used to go to movies, I sometimes would pick really sad ones on purpose to get the tears flowing fully.
In the 70s I would watch "The Way We Were" with Barbra Streisand and Robert Redford (? I think?). More recently it was Lion King (my dad died when I was 14, it pushes a LOT of buttons but is a wonderful story anyway).
Another tack is to just selfishly grab every comfort you can find. Bubble bath, favorite dinner, hot tea, whatever is good for you.
And for the record, I'm ripping and re-knitting right now myself. When I'm not typing, anyway. LOL!
OK, I say don't give up quite yet. The side seams will definitely help draw it all back in. And then if it's just the neck that will prevent you from wearing it, that's fixable - going down several needle sizes & knitting on a collar will drastically pull that neckline in. If it's too long, a trip to the washer/dryer might also help shrink it up & into a more flattering shape. At the very least, finish it up & if you hate it? Give it away as a gift of love to someone who will wear it with great delight - and then there's nothing lurking to remind you in six months of your angst....
LynnH: you always make me smile. I listened to your music again today on the way to work to make me smile.
About the sweater: Well, the odd thing is, it's not big width-wise. It's too low - really too low in both front and back. It would probably fit a really tall, long-waisted person quite nicely.
Jen, I like your suggestion to add a bit more collar with smaller needles etc. Thank you for the suggestion.
Jen is right, and it just so happens you have a friend taking a Collar Obedience class at Stitches. ;)
Tall, longwaisted...Doesn't that describe your darling daughter?
Sometimes, the best thing to do is have a good cry. Clears the toxins and all that. Poor baby.
This is way too large for the daughter. It would slip right off her. It actually almost falls off MY shoulders it is so loose and low there. The only thing holding it up is my boobs.
My daughter looks tall, but she’s actually only 5’3” like me. She’s just so THIN, it makes her look tall. Hard to believe, I used to be as skinny as she is. Chelle
And did I mention that this is really not CUTE, either. Somehow it just comes off looking fugly, dowdy and homemade - like one of those examples on "You Knit What?" One of those all-around clunkers. Neck/collar shaping might do the trick, but I'm not sure.
Actually I'm not even impressed with the yarn - Nashua Cilantro. It feels nice as you knit it up, it's all springy and forms a pretty stitch, except it splits like a bitch. Even worse, it unravels at the ends, unwinds itself - you almost feel like you need to use Fray Check every time you weave in an end to ensure that it won't all come undone eventually. And if you have to rip and re-knit anything, forget about it. It's a mess.
This is one of those projects where the only thing that will ultimately make me feel a bit better is to cut it up. Sound drastic? Well . . . maybe. It might be carthitic like crying.
Again, I realize in the ultimate scheme of things this is a small and insignificant problem, but I better just put it out of my mind again or my stomach will clench up thinking about the time and effort I wasted knitting and reknitting on this thing. I'm usually a "process" knitter. The one time I get a productivity mentality, i.e. I want to wear this at Stitches - that's when it goes to hell in a hand basket.
Ah man! That IS bad. For what it's worth, I was that skinny at Emily's age, too. Age smacks us all in the butt, hmm?
I would say, spring for a new pair of sissors and cut that baby up. You don't like the pattern NOR the yarn. Yeah, it's a waste, but sometimes, it's better to toss the damned thing. One of Dirk's sweaters, which had bad raglag sleeves, went into the trash. I'd tried sewing on those sleeves several times with no luck. It felt so good to see that thing layin among the trash. :)
You'll never believe it, but that sweater fits my Mom just fine, and it looks good on her. I'm so happy it worked for her. Now I feel like the two months wasn't wasted. It's still pretty low on her on the neckline, but I think she'll just wear a blouse under it.
Oh, sorry to hear about all the troubles. You have way more patience than I! I think I would have ditched the project long ago. Sounds like your Mom is going to come out a winner on this, though. Yay! And, hey, you mentioned Stitches Midwest. I'm not going (too close to school starting) but hope you have a blast. Be sure to blog about your adventures!
Oh, no!
Hey, I like your standard of "not noticable to someone riding by on a horse."
I knitted up a pattern from Berocco (Valpuri) and everything went right but the sweater looks like it's wearing ME, not the other way around. I think that could be seen even from horseback! I realized that if I was shopping for sweaters, I might try many on before finding on that I like, so what makes me think I can knit something up and it will please me when I finally put it on??? I am planning to, maybe, sometime in the future, sew the side seams of my Valpuri a little tighter. I don't like clingy knits but this thing needs some shape. Anyway, back to the drawing board...
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