Released from the Sweater

The red cardigan has finally released me from its unruly grasp. Last night I hated the sweater. I was mad at the hours of plain knitting, the fact that I thought it wouldn't fit, that I couldn't figure out how to assemble the set-in sleeves, and that for some reason I just couldn't move on until it was finished.


Ooops. Perhaps it was just a little crankiness and fatigue that was making me see red. This morning, I magically had the ability to sew in the sleeves, and wow. It has to be one of the cooler things I've done! I like the way the sleeves look, and amazingly, the sweater fits me perfectly. There are still things I don't like about the pattern (namely the neckline and rolled edges/lack of button band), but it turned out better than I thought it would.

The patternd was the 38 " size "Must Have Cardigan" from Hip to Knit. I added waist shaping, as well as four inches in body length and one inch in sleeve length. The yarn is Valley Yarns' Berkshire in the color wine, slightly more than four balls (this makes for a very economical sweater, cheaper than store-bought). The pattern had some issues, and it's not the first time I've had difficulties with patterns in the book. I like the yarn, although the sweater is very heavy. However, I think it will be wearable. I did learn one thing from knitting this sweater: as much as I like how they look, knitting a plain sweater in a plain yarn may not be for me. Please throw me just a bit of texture, color, shaping, something to keep my mind engaged! Now I can move on to the next project (note the first season of ER, excellent side dish for many hours of knitting).

In other news, we had a "Raquetlon" today, instead of normal practice. This involves playing table tennis, badminton, raquet ball, and tennis doubles. Each game goes to 21 and the team with the most points after all four games wins. On the B side (middle of the ladder), we played introverts vs. extroverts. Despite the trash talking confidence of the extroverts, the two introverts pulled through for a win. That's right, slient but deadly. As my principal said during my high school graduation ceremony, "Be nice to nerds, because someday, they will rule the world".