A week ago I was really wishing that I had just stuck to knitting socks and nothing else. That particular wishful thought was preceded by a fatal decision I made many months ago.
Last year I noticed that DH would often come home from church in midwinter and throw on one of the sweaters I had knitted him pre-2000. Being made of wool they still looked pretty decent. But there were a few stains here and there and the styles screamed 1980s. Sometimes he wouldn't bother changing out of them before going back out for the evening service since they were warm and comfy but I tended to cringe every time he did so. And so I promised him that I would make at least one more sweater for him before I was done knitting large items.
We searched for a pattern that suited his particular tastes and eventually settled on one he liked. The problem was that it appeared to have only ever been printed in a German magazine. I searched high and low on the internet for a means to purchase that particular issue. No, I don't speak German, but with Google translator and a decent working knowledge of how patterns go together, I thought I'd be able to work it out even if the original pattern was still in German. However, search as I might, I could not find that issue anywhere.
No problem, I decided. I could work out my own pattern. Between my sketches on graph paper of the actual design and a free sweater pattern that I found, I cautiously purchased more than enough yarn to knit the sweater. I decided on Lettlopi because it is warm, the colours are gorgeous, it knits up quicker than 8 ply/DK but doesn't look bulky, and I had recently completed myself a sweater in the same yarn and loved wearing it.
Easter time we had friends visiting from Australia, and we had two round trips to the airport and back which equates to lots of knitting time in the car. I cast on for the first sleeve, worked it to the armhole, ripped it out, cast on again and knit a decent swathe of fabric before ripping back and starting again. After that, I was away and enjoying the knit.
Then I moved onto the back. I wanted to ensure the two colours were balanced and planned the placement of the pattern accordingly. Kept on knitting right until that back was finished and then I laid it out and discovered to my dismay, that the back was 15cm/6" too long. I pulled out my tape measure and measured and remeasured the pieces, measured and remeasured my patient DH, and griped about how I had married a short man, and why only now was he telling me that the original sweater he had said was a good fit was actually 6cm too long?
By the time I had ripped out most of the back and sleeve I was beginning to wish I had stuck to knitting socks.
Hold that thought.
A whole lot of re-planning and redesigning later, and I began knitting the back and sleeve again. I decided not to go with the raglan-style sweater even though I loved it, because I was concerned that there wouldn't be enough room where the sleeves join the body. In the end I decided on a modified drop shoulder with the hope that it wouldn't look too bulky but would give him room where he needs it.
DH is not a big man by any accounts, but he does have broad shoulders and strong biceps that tend not to correspond with his size on a knitting pattern. Over the years he has had shirts given to him as gifts only to have to exchange them because the giver would look at him and consider him a small-medium size but not take into account where he deviated from the average for his size. I knew all this and still messed up badly.
I had no one to blame but myself although by this time DH was apologising profusely for being what he is and suggesting that I use the yarn to knit something for myself instead.
A week later, and the back and first sleeve are now complete [again], and a preliminary pin to the sweater he said fits suggests that I'm on the right track. However, it will only be known for sure when it's all done. I think I might tack everything in place before seaming and see if it really does fit. If not ... well, I have options but they probably won't include finishing it this year if I value my sanity.
And back to those socks. Last weekend when I was figuratively pulling my hair out I was seriously wishing I had just stuck with knitting socks. They don't take as long as a sweater, and, even with DH's restrictions on style etc, they are relatively headache-free.
Or so I thought until DIL#1 presented me with two pairs of socks last Sunday and asked if I could mend them please. Suddenly socks were now also a headache. As I re-soled one sock completely, and knitted a patch for another, and was able to just darn the third sock because it hadn't actually formed a hole yet, I was mentally assessing how to knit a sock in the round without seams that can be easily repaired later. I know how to do it with a sock where the instep and sole are seamed together, but one in the round, I couldn't figure out a way except to knit it top down (and then the whole foot is likely to have to be reworked) and I hate knitting socks top down with a vengeance.
It seemed that my knitting career was about to come to a grinding standstill. That is, until yesterday when I gave DIL#1 back the socks and she mentioned that the first pair of socks I ever made her didn't have holes, and she couldn't understand why these more recent ones did. I mentally went over a list of all the socks that I have had to repair or throw out and made a startling discovery. Every sock that I have had to repair to date (and I've been making socks now for over ten years) was not made from sock yarn. Not one.
I know now the importance of having some nylon in with the wool for strong socks, but when I began, and especially when knitting socks with thicker yarns, I often used 100% wool. It's these earlier ones that have worn out. The only possible exception is a pair of socks that I made for The Most Adorable Granddaughter#1 that has been sitting in my mending basket for the past year or more. These socks were made with sock yarn, and while there are no obvious holes, there appear to be patches on the soles where the yarn is wearing thin. I'm still debating whether I'll try reinforcing the sole or just make her a whole new pair. I suspect they're too small for her now, anyway.
All that to say that perhaps I won't give up on knitting socks, and perhaps I won't even give up on knitting a sweater for DH. However, completion of said project could change all that ...
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