Grrr...
It's finished. For the first time. Because it looks like I'll be knitting this one again. Score: one for the sweater, zero for me. I worried about this, and fretted, and told myself that the swatch and my measurements all said that I should knit the medium, and that the garter stitch and the wool content would mitigate against the habits of silk to grow and grow and grow.
Not so much.
See what you think. These pictures aren't to show off the colors or anything. They were taken indoors in a mirror, so they're not good. But I think they give you the idea.
See? Too long, too big (and the sleeves are rolled up there). Not flattering. Here's a side view.
It hits in the worst possible spot. Now, if I pull the collar up and roll it so you can see what a shorter length would look like, we get something more like this.
And this.
(It's still hanging funny in the front, but I think you get the idea.)Dudes. It's got to be frogged. All the way back to little bitty balls of yarn. I spent some time in bed last night trying to think of ways to salvage any of the pieces, by maybe snipping a bit of yarn and then doing some grafting, but the construction of this jacket -- which is what makes it so cool and drapey and swingy -- means that there's just no way to do that. The worst of it is that I wove in all of the ends, so now I'm going to have to find and unweave them all; luckily, I left little dangly ends on most of them, figuring I'd let all the weaving-in settle down before cutting them all the way back. Unluckily, the way I seamed the sleeves was to use the ends so that I could seam each bit with its own color. (That's actually why I wove the ends in, even though somewhere in the back of my mind I worried that this was going to be the outcome; I needed to see how it fit with the sleeves done, and the weaving-in bit just came with the territory.)(Also, I'll confess here that hope springs eternal, and I was still hoping until around 11:00 last night. Then hope died.)
I might also think about the colors while I frog. I've got lots more yarn that I needed: a whole skein of the dark blue, most of a skein of the brown, and an extra skein each of the green and the handpaint. I'm wondering now about the brown, whether it belongs in this particular jacket or not, so I might think about leaving it out, now that I know I'd have enough of the other three yarns to make up for it (especially knitting it a size smaller).
Thoughts? Opinions? Condolences? Manic laughter? I will take any and all.
25 comments:
OH NOES! I am so sorry about the sweater. It totally sucks that you have to frog it, but you know you'l never wear it the way it is now. *hugs*
You know you have your support group of knitters!
It never ceases to amaze, that hope that so many excellent knitters (myself included) have that what is clearly not going right will suddenly take a new course and become perfect. I wonder if it is because what we are doing is so magical to begin with - if we can turn string into a garment just by waving our wands, why can't said garment transmogrify into something that fits as we seam it up, in a final bit of miracle?
I am so sorry, but you are making the right call. For what it is worth, I am thinking your biggest problem is the sleeve length and bulk. The colors and patterning of them are fabulous. At least you will enjoy the re-knitting process with yarns like that.
And THAT is why I have sworn off cleverly constructed handknits forever. I may be eliminating some wonderful garments, but I am also ensuring that what I do knit... fits.
Having said that, I think your reknit bathrobe/sweater will be wonderful -- love the design, love the colors!
I know exactly how you feel... that's how I felt about Dave's Leo as it grew larger and larger. It's still in my closet waiting to be frogged, because I just can't bring myself to pull all that hard work apart...
It's GORGEOUS!
When my kids were babies, I was into doing smocking, and I once bought a pattern pamphlet with a picture of three smocked teddy bears: absolutely adorable.
And then in the text the author goes, "What's wrong with each of these?" And of course you feel like, heck, nothing's wrong, they're cute!
She says, okay, this, and this on that one, and that on the other one. But: you didn't notice, right? You don't care now that I've pointed them out, right?
It's been 20 years and I've never forgotten that.
So what I'm saying is, some knitting projects need to be thrown in a ziploc in the back of the closet and given a timeout for a few months. Let it wait. Then pull it out, look it over, and go...
...Wow, look at all these cute teddy bears, how did they get on my sweater?
My first thought was: I sure hope she didn't weave in all those ends,,,:(
To tell you the truth, apart from the sleeves length I don't see a major issue with your cardigan as it is, but you see it in person so you are a better judge and you will have to wear it too.
Don't you have someone that you can gift/sell this to instead of taking apart all this beautiful work?
Oh, my heart bleads for you. And it looked so beautiful.
Oh no! I'm so sorry about this. Just sucks. I like the jacket a little shorter, but obviously you can't wear it that way. I have a hard time with whether you should leave out the brown or not since I don't care for blue, so the brown was ranking pretty high for me. I'd say though if you think it doesn't look like it goes then it probably doesn't go and you should trade it out for one of the others.
You could just keep eating till it fits.
ARRRGGHHH!
You never said a word in all our emails today!
I'm SO sorry. I know you're sick about it.
And my first thought was you're too tiny to wear something that large.
And my second thought? THIS is why I don't want to knit sweaters...
(((((hugs)))))
Any hope of adding on to the length and turning it into a coat? Another choice could be washing machine, sewing machine and some pillow forms... Good Luck. but know that we've all been there -- it's part of the process.
We do keep hoping, don't we? I empathize with you. First, yesterday I told The Professor,"Grrr, this pattern looks wrong. I wonder if I should frog it." His reply was, "You can wait 3 minutes or 6 hours or a week, but, I know you, you will take it out and redo it." He was correct, of course, so I took the wiser path and frogged it immediately. I am also looking at frogging a handspun shawl back to little balls. The pattern just isn't right and the edges curl.
I tell myself on days like this that knitting is also about the process, right?
Weeping tears of frustration with you.
Ugh. I'm so sorry. It's awful when sweaters come out too big, and sometimes it's just impossible to see it coming (until the last minute when it's just too painful to believe). Other than the size, I think it looks great, and I love the colors. But if there's a nagging doubt in your mind about the brown, then this is a great opportunity to silence it...
Arrrgh! I guess it won't help if I ::headdesk:: for you, unfortunately.
I've been there, and I've had to ask myself more times than I like, "Do I want to be finished, or do I want to be finished with something I'm happy with?"
The frog pond. It's a place of facing unfortunate truth!
Oh NO!! Don't worry, no manic laughter here. I'm in a similar predicament; I knit a hooded vest for my 6 year old. Just finished it last week. Unfortunately, I had her try it on and it's too small!! I had started knitting it a size larger but that looked huge so I'd gone down a size. I'm debating whether to frog it or just add a panel on either side of the front, but then it might end up with the back pulling funny... ARG! So the darn thing is in time out while I consider its fate.
(incidentally, I didn't weave the ends in, but it's knit out of Berrocco Plush yarn which is a *itch to frog. the fuzzy bits get all tangled together.)
Okay, my opinion, take it or leave it! hahaha First of all, I LOVE those colors. Beautimus. (put that in your linguistic dictionary :) ) But Jocelyn, I think you need to frog that puppy and make it about 14 sizes smaller. YOU, girl, have an AWESOME dang body!! (And I have seen you up close and personal while we're shoving food in our faces in Encinitas! haha), but you are hiding it!! You need to knit something that shows off your major bodily cuteness. Just sayin. :)
(you know what i'm going to say, but i'm going to say it anyhow)
i agree with kim! you have such a cute figure to show off under there; even in a smaller size, that sweater is still hiding/eliminating your best assets!
Manic Laughter! And Condolences. And the overworn "It's just knitting, and you like knitting. Now you have more to do. At least nothing died." (except the bathrobe)
Garter stitch stretches if it's heavy enough, but you already figured that out.
Definitely needs to be shorter. Then it won't look like you're hiding in there. (ask me about my class from knitting retreat. Not the lace, the other one)
Condolences. Bummer! I'm sorry about the sweater. Think of it as a large gauge swatch.
bother .. of course there are lots of words in the english language, and in the american english language that have more power than bother .. but after watching Jeeves and Wooster in my 20's and it sparking earlier memories of Pooh bear simply saying bother - well bother seems to express beautifully the extreme sense of realization that there is no easy solution, Bother. I was in denial as well .. and yet we both know if you knit the smaller size .. you would have been standing there pulling and tugging and trying to make it stretch to where you wanted it to.
Bother
bother.
I doooo like the colours .. and the idea ...
Stella
Condolences! Certainly no manic laughter. Just one huge, slow, drawn-out *sigh*!
I have never tried to knit a sweater because I know I would screw it up.lol Hugs Darcy
Oh no. Post Knitting Disappointment Disorder in its purest form. It would be better if it were so terrible you just threw it away, but when you know you're going to rip it - and undo all those woven ends... I think I have to go and lie down.
Oh, rats! How terribly frustrating. You have all my sympathy.
Oh boo, how disappointing! I know what you mean about feeling guilty to move on to something while that stares at you waiting to be frogged. It helps if you ball it up and put it a bag in a drawer or something. Just sayin'...
Have a great trip, I can't wait to hear what you think of the Jordan/Sanderson collaboration!
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