Goodbye My Love...

The journey is over...at some point you just have to cry "uncle."  What started out as a old sweater from the Goodwill, turned into an Earth Day recycling project and then into a beast of another sort  before reaching its final destination as Big Montana.  In this house at least.  I could frog it again, but this time it's going into the donation pile. Such is the way with about 80% of my knitted clothing.  Scarves, easy.  Blankets, easy.  Clothing that needs to fit right and curve in and out in just the right places?  Not so much. 

I have to admit to a certain amount of sadness.  I love the pattern and I love the vest concept.  I adore the big cowl neck.  I even saw it all the way to the end.  What I don't love is the outcome: bulky, wrong, misfitted.  Sad. Very, very sad.

Looks harmless enough laying flat.  I wondered as it progressed if it still wasn't too big.  I wondered if it really should flare out quite so much at the waist.  My concern was not misplaced, it just did not fit my body.  It was shapeless around the middle, dipped down too much below the lace and felt a little too square.  I think I would benefit from learning how to knit short rows for bust shaping before I ever attempt another sweater.  It should be mandatory in patterns really.

And that's not even mentioning the little big mistake I made in the cowl neck. See the front of the stockinette stitch visible when the cowl is turned over?  Yeah, it should have been the back of the stockinette stitch so that it matched the purl stitch visible on either side of the lace panel.   The thing that gets me though, is that I had it right the first time.  I second guessed the pattern because it seemed wrong and ripped it all out and started again.  If only I'd trusted the first time.

Look at the sad curl of that cowl...It would have curled differently if I hadn't reversed it.  It definitely wanted to curl out instead of in.

 

I'm more sad that it didn't fit right than I am over the time it took to knit. I absolutely love, love, love a great cowl...even if my brothers said it made me look like a Star Trek character.  That's why a girl has brothers  really, to keep it real.  And look at the fabulous inset lace pattern...sniff, sniff.