My Own Personal Hair Shirt

The sweater of my nightmares is finally finished.  Oh, I know what you are probably thinking.  You're thinking to yourself, "Hey, it doesn't look so bad.  All that fuss for such an innocent looking sweater."

Ha!  It's those innocent-looking ones that get you every time.  I'm telling you, this thing put me through the wringer.  Yes, it seems to look fine now.  I'll admit that the neckline looks a little strange.  You don't see many "boat-necks" on Icelandic-looking sweaters.  I could live with that, if it was the only anomaly.

I could even live with the fact that the sleeves don't go all the way to my wrists.  They actually ended up not as short as I originally feared because the neckline sits down lower than I thought it would.  That would be sexy on anyone but me.  I think, though, that it is hard to look sexy in heavy wool.

Also, I couldn't find any shirt to wear underneath this thing that looked good with it.  A tank top looked like my underwear was showing.  A scoop-necked shirt looked strange.  Regular collars didn't work.  Turtlenecks don't go with scoop necks.  I finally went commando underneath the darn thing and that worked.  Luckily, the wool is so dense that nothing really shows.  There is ONE major drawback to this however.

The wool is itchy as all get out.  I remember that the Icelandic sweaters that I brought back from Reykjavik were the same way and the only thing that helped was to have every inch of skin underneath the sweaters covered by a shirt.  That ain't gonna happen with this sweater.  So......I guess if I ever find myself wanting to do penance like the monks of old or trying to avoid temptation by suffering mortification of the flesh, I can wear this as a "hair shirt."  That being said, I think the only temptation that this will help me avoid is the temptation to knit another similar sweater.

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm off to work on a much more enjoyable project.....my Irish Coffee sweater made out of yummy "Dream in Color" yarn.  This yarn is soft and squishy and not at all itchy.  The pattern is clear and the sweater is working out great.  I love it when that happens.