IF AT FIRST YOU DON'T SUCCEED...

When I found out that one of my cousin’s and her husband were expecting, I saw it as the perfect opportunity to knit. Any time that I pick a new project, I look forward to learning some new technique or stitch. In this project I would be challenged to learn several.

I decided to try to make a lovely little sweater. The pattern was featured in a previous post (Time, Time, Time). This pattern offered me several new challenges. I had to learn how to make corrugated ribbing, picking-up stitches, making button holes, and a three needle bind-off.

I began with the corrugated ribbing that made the bottom band of the sweater. The CR was a breeze and fun. The body of the sweater had a bit of stranding in it but that was nothing new to me. The armhole and neck shaping was easy to follow. The sweater’s body is knit in one piece and the shoulders are connected with the three needle bind-off. Everything looked beautiful up to this point.

I know that by now you are wondering what went wrong, well I’ll tell you. Once the shoulders were connected, I had to pick up stitches to make the sleeves. It was a nightmare and when I was done with the sleeve, it looked like one. The pick-up looked horrible. I then decided to make it look even more horrific by doing the decrease on the top (outside) of the sleeve.

I completed one sleeve and continued on to the next. Again, I encountered the same picking-up nightmare and I still put the decrease on the top of the sleeve, duh. Still, I continued on with the neckband and the left front placket. I didn’t have any problems with the pick-ups and they both look just lovely to me, so why are the armhole pick-ups so janky (my word for stinky)?

I thought that I could do some repairs to the sleeve areas by whip stitching the area on the inside to make them look better, right, right? NO! My dear daughter looked at it and said, “Mom, don’t give that to anyone.” Well, with that simple statement, she had said aloud what I had been thinking all along in my head. I let go of my denial. I wasn’t alright with the sleeve attachment no the sleeves. There wasn’t any repair that I could do to make me happy with this sweater let along gift it to a precious newborn.

So, with that I sat the sweater aside to begin another project. Wait a minute; the new project was for my DD. You don’t think that she had an alternative motive? Hummmm.

My newborn cousin received some store bought items to celebrate her birth, but I have not given up. I do plan on making this sweater. I will not admit defeat. I’ll work on some other WIP in the mean time. We all know that is at first you don’t succeed…