I don't know what possessed me to embark on knitting a sweater for myself. Perhaps it was after successfully reworking a vest I knitted twenty years ago that I had never worn (the armholes were far too big) and which has now become a firm favourite, or, more likely, perhaps it was after knitting a jacket for The Most Charming Grandson#1 that I gained the mistaken idea that I could look cute in a hand knit too.
The truth is, I was delusional. But I ordered yarn and proceeded to knit. I began with the pattern Puget Sound Pullover. I loved the colourwork on the yoke ...
... that is until DIL#1 mentioned that it looked quite Christmassy and after wards I could not un-see all those pink Christmas trees scattered across the yoke. Now Christmas-themed sweaters might be okay for some, but not when you celebrate Christmas in the middle of summer. It seems wrong to wear a Christmas-themed sweater in July. It just does.
So I looked for another pattern, but having now been inspired by round yokes, that was where I focused my search. I decided on adapting this pattern even though I should have known better. (There are some lovely patterns on this site: I just haven't had success in finding one that suits me. Either I am getting harder to please or harder to fit.)
One of the advantages of top-down sweaters that is often touted about online is that you can try it on as you go. And try this one on I did. And yet, when I cast off that bottom hem, I started to have doubts (even though I had loved it up to this point). Despite waist shaping, it was decidedly unflattering (think "round"). And somehow, even though I had used short rows to elevate the yoke at the back of the sweater, it ended up lower at the neck and higher at the hem. It also appears to twist - something I've never encountered before when knitting in the round.
I could probably undo the hem and do some more short rows to lower the back hem (I have no idea whether that will help with the neck) but I'm also unhappy with what I've done so far on the sleeves. I suspect that knitting in the round on less stitches than what was on the needles when I did the yoke and body has somehow affected my gauge. I am very aware of where I have picked up the sleeve stitches from the yoke: there is a definite line.
Amy Herzog of Knit to Flatter fame says that sweaters need seams for stability and to sit properly. She advocates knitting sweaters in pieces and doing set-in sleeves. After this experience, I tend to agree. When I look in my wardrobe, it's not the top-down sweaters or cardigans that I love for the way they flatter my body. No, I love them because they are comfy and sloppy and easy to wear. True "around the home" pieces. But that wasn't what I wanted this time.
I'm reluctant to undo something I've put so much work into but if I'm not going to wear it, removing all those stitches off the needles seems like the only option. And then it's back to the drawing board to find a pattern that works for this yarn and my particular shape. If only knitting something for me was as simple and easy as knitting for The Most Charming Grandson#1.
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