uh.

I learned an important lesson this weekend.

Basically, I blocked my sweater. I did not do anything fancy to it – it didn’t get stretched, or pinned, or anything like that. I just got it wet with a little bit of soap, squeezed out the water, and laid it flat to dry. I do not know what happened between the actual sweater and my dirty liar of a gauge swatch, but something did, and the sweater is perfect – except that I have to roll the sleeves up about four times and the neckline slips off my shoulders and the collar starts about three inches too low. It is beyond “sexy-slouchy” and into “elementary-school-aged-girl-playing-dress-up,” and I am very disappointed.

I don’t know. I mean, I am assuming the gauge difference is what did it, because there is one – but the swatch is 4.75 stitches/6.5 rows to the inch, and the sweater is 4.5 stitches/7 rows. Everything fits in terms of stitch gauge, but it’s way too long. If anyone on the internet has insight into what might have gone wrong, I’d appreciate it. Part of my issue is that I really have no idea what happened.

It is going to take me a few days before I work up the nerve to frog this sweater and start over, but I think I’m going to have to. I love this yarn, and there is no point in keeping it knit up in a sweater I’ll never wear outside the house.

ravelympics: check-in.

So, this was what my sweater looked like at 2:30 PM on Sunday, before I left to watch the men’s gold medal hockey game.

And this is what my sweater looks like this morning, after casting off last night.

I had two rows of button band to go by the time the Olympics were officially “over,” and that’s fine with me. I’m not going to grouse over the fact that I didn’t have yarn until two days in, or explain that I’m like, really busy – I knit very nearly all of a sweater in two weeks, and that’s good enough.

The sweater isn’t done done – I still need to figure out how I’m going to close it (if anyone knows where I can buy snap tape in Toronto, you get to be my BFF forever), weave in all the ends, and do blocking, but whatever. It is close enough to finished, and I am in love with this sweater and can’t wait to wear it, and that’s what matters.

this is his drycleaning bill (four sweater vests)

I was all set to post on Thursday, and talk about how my sweater was going and how excited I was. I’d finished this much.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get a chance to sit down and write until today, and now I’ve knit this much.

I just really, really like this project, and the stripes are looking so cool as I knit them up. I’m excited to see how much I can get done before next Sunday.