Ripping and Improvising

I've been taking a sweater class to make the Single Stranded Tunic designed by Susie Bonell. It's a free pattern offered by Cascade Yarns.  Before you rush to click on the link, you might want to read the rest of my post.  Just want to warn ya!

This sweater has been quite the challenge.  I think I have knit and then re-knit each piece of it at least twice and some pieces I've knit three times.  Some of the reknitting has been my own fault.  Some of it has been the result of a pattern that I think could be written clearer.  I actually had to have my local yarn shop owner use her knitting software to print off some alternate instructions for me to try to get the sleeves to come out somewhere close to working with the rest of the body.  It was only natural then that I would be thrilled to have finally reached the point of seaming the darn thing up.

Oh, boy!  I'd never done raglan sleeves before that weren't knit in the round so when I was knitting the sleeves, I was really careful to make sure that each colored section was knit the same height as the body colored sections.  I didn't realize that where the raglan met the body, the sleeve sections would have to be knit longer.  I'm probably not explaining this very well but let's just say that when I went to sew in the sleeves, I realized that to match up the motifs, I actually needed to have knit my cream color in the sleeves longer.  Drat!  I'll tell you what though, I was NOT going to re-knit the sleeves up a 4th time.

I got my sleeves sewn in to the arms-eye, both to the front and back body and was set to sew up the underarm seams and the side seams when I looked at the neck opening and thought to myself, "There's no way my head is going to fit in that hole PLUS I still have to pick up stitches and knit a garterstitch finish for the neckline."  I DID manage to poke my head through the hole but just barely.  Ugh!  Now I was faced with a dilemma.  I don't do dilemmas very well at night so I decided to watch a movie and regroup the next day.  Not to worry......I had a plan.  It involved ripping out stitches.

I decided that I'd take out the seams partway down to the light gray section and then pick up stitches and knit a bigger neck opening.  I managed to do that (of course, I WOULD have to be so good about already working in my ends).  So now I had a pile of yarn all "spaghetti-like" and live stitches to pick up.

This called for some liquid courage.  One Diet Pepsi later, I had all my stitches picked up and was trying to figure out what I was going to do.  Hmmm, I decided I'd just knit a few rows and then knit 3 rows of garter stitch and call it a day.  It would be a boat neckline.  Let's call it "Audrey Hepburn does Chamonix."  Of course, I'd still have to catch the part of the seams that were open and get those closed up.  No problemo!  THAT I could do.

I got the neckline done this afternoon and will work on the small seam openings later, probably tomorrow, after church.  I'm hoping I'll feel a little more charitable toward this sweater after I've heard the Good Word.

I was sweating it as I neared the end of my neckline.  That ball of yarn was going fast.  In fact, this is how much yarn was left when I finished binding off the neckline.  Not much, eh?

I couldn't resist trying the sweater on to make sure I could get my head through the neck opening this time.  Great, it was big enough now to get my head in with no problem.  But wait, what was happening with the sleeves?  Suddenly my sleeves, which had been knit to go from my wrist to my shoulders were now 3/4 length sleeves.  Ay carumba!  I guess when I ripped out part of the sections, it shortened up the sleeves more than I realized.  Hell's Bells!

Wait a minute!  Didn't Audrey Hepburn wear gloves up to her elbows in "Breakfast at Tiffany's?  OK, that's the solution.  I'll just wear the darn sweater as is and if I get too cold, I'll get a pair of long gloves and channel my inner "Audrey Hepburn does Breakfast at Chamonix."  And if anyone makes a wisecrack about this sweater when I'm wearing it, they will wake up with a black eye and wearing it themselves.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.