Somebody Stop Me
I have been determinedly resisting the call to knit a sweater. I have, so far, successfully avoided the sweaters in Sally Melville's The Knitting Experience. I have dodged them in the last two issues of Interweave Press Knits. I found a number of the sweater patterns in the Ullman/Clark Knit 2 Together appealing, but, nope, I'm not knitting them. Sweaters are something real knitters make. I'm not there yet. I may no longer be a groupie, but I'm not far removed. I have questions about my skill level. Doubts about my stick-to-it-iveness.
The temptation grows, however. Fed in part by all the sweater knitting going on in my favorite blogs: Katriina at Dances With Wool; The Perfect Sweater Pattern (free to all!) at Mason Dixon; along with the adventures Kay has been having with the Perfectly Okay Sweater. The Yarn Harlot is knitting one as a break (Oh help me. A sweater as a break. My mind boggles.) I read these posts enviously, longingly. Someday, I think. Someday.
So why am I suddenly, eagerly, searching my growing library of knitting books for sweater patterns? An email from Clare. And I quote ". . . send a sweater? any sweater." To serve the immediate need I have, of course gone to her sweater drawer, added the one I like best to the care package with the new P.C. Hodgell novel, and trotted out to the shipping desk at Office Depot. It is winging it's merry UPS way to Urbana.
But before I packed it up, I traced her sweater onto poster board.
And I measured every thing I could think to measure.
That "any sweater" is sitting at the back of my brain, arguing with the voice of reason which is shouting, "What are you? Nuts?"
It's not that I'm planning on knitting a sweater. Sweaters require shaping. (Although I learned to implement increase and decreases with the Felted Oven Mitts.) Sweaters are not flat. (Of course, once I've finished the Doctor's Bag, I'll have assembled a three-dimensional object.) They're a big project. (But then, I'm almost finished with the Variation on the Island Embrace Afghan.)
Clare asked for a sweater. Oh help.
2 comments:
I don't think sweaters are fun to knit - they are a required part of the knitter's compendium but so much can go wrong, not the least of which is it just might not turn out like I envisioned. I get maker's remorse when the sweater is done. Gloves, rugs, baby sweaters - these are all compact, can be awed on other people, and have a much quicker return. I was just at Nana's Knits where Trish said she would never knit a rug (I suspect she is all about sweaters because she also doesn't do afghans). I will watch you. I have that Hanukkah pillow to finish, now that I learned the I-cord bind-off.
Ellen has sent you a link to a weblog:
Just do it! Imagine how fun it will be!
Blog: Wool Gathering
Post: Somebody Stop Me
Link: http://mccauley-julianne.blogspot.com/2006/10/somebody-stop-me_16.html
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