A perfect first project. He's little (will fit in the palm of your hand) and is easy to make. He was a success. And then I leapt from little one stitch no swatch to...
a sweater. Note that this is the picture from the pattern. It was never successfully made. I still like it, and maybe one day will add it to my wardrobe... but not anytime soon. Because sweaters should fit. That means taking measurements, making gauge, and counting. There is a lot of counting.
Since then, I've tried making 3 more sweaters.
One was started less than a month before Christmas with the intent of wearing it on Christmas Eve. It was sport weight yarn on size 5 needles....for all you non-knitters, that's a whole lot of little stitches. Needless to say it didn't get done. The yarn was then repurposed as a pretty little scarf for my sister. Well, some of it was repurposed. I still have a lot of this yarn left...maybe she'll get mittens to match. And a hat. Possibly a cowl. Or all of them. I bought a lot of this yarn.
The next sweater was for a crochet-a-long. My thinking was that maybe if I were working with a group I could actually finish a sweater! I got about this far:
And it doesn't fit. It doesn't even fit the family members who are much smaller than me. I'm pretty sure it will be frogged and turned into several very squishy dishcloths.
My fourth sweater attempt is still on the cable (although the interchangeable needles have been removed for another project.) I have no picture, but it's a bottom up sweater that has been completed up to the arms!
Since there is no shaping, this means that I knit a tube about a foot long.... then stopped. There are no arms. It's in my Ravelry queue under "No, Really I'm going to finish it this time sweater". It's not done. I blame the arms. And maybe the fact that I didn't read the pattern first, so the arms that are supposed to be done and getting attached are still in the form of a ball of yarn stuffed in the bottom of my knitting bag.
So when one of our local yarn shops offered a 4 part 'make your first sweater' class, I considered it an investment. If I paid for a class with an actual teacher of COURSE I would finish the sweater. Otherwise it would be a waste of money - and I don't waste my money.
The sweater I picked has a cowl neck and is knit from the top down in the round (it doesn't get much easier) and I should have it finished within the 4 classes.
Before the first class I washed and blocked my swatch.
During the first class, I learned how to get started: the proper cast on, which increase to use, and lots of reminders that in knitting everything can be fixed.
And after the class, I spent the next few days knitting down to where I needed to separate the arms.
During the second class, we learned how to put the arms onto scrap yarn to be knit later, how to make a pretty little decrease for shaping, and a nice stretchy bind off so that it won't look like you are wearing a mushroom.
By class 3 I should have the whole body of the sweater done (i.e. not the arms or the cowl). I'm about 6 inches away from being done and have lost all desire to knit. ::sigh::
It has to be done by this Saturday so I'm going to hunker down with some crafty podcasts and hope to get inspired.
Happy Crafting!
