Thursday, September 21, 2006

The Cursed Sweater

Several months ago, I started what was supposed to be the world's easiest baby sweater, or at least close to it. The cardigan was to be for my then six-month old. I think it may be cursed.
Shortly after buying the yarn, I lost the book with the pattern: The Yarn Girls' Guide to Kids' Knits. I was undetered. After all, I had another book with patterns for all sizes and gauges. All gauges except the one that I needed: 2 stitches per inch. Still, I figured I could figure it out and got started.
I happily cast on and quickly knit up the back of the little sweater. I couldn't remember if the pattern was for a v or a crew neck, so I chose v neck. The first side went as smoothly as the back. And then, all progress stopped. I'm not sure why. Other knitting projects demanded to be knitted. My dog died (bad thing.) I quit my job (good thing.) I launched my own writing business (good thing.) My kids got out of school for the summer (good bad thing.) Now, months later, the baby is a toddler and it's time to get this sweater knit before she grows out of it.
But now I can't find the second book. I did what I should have done in the first place and borrowed the original book from the library.
Of course by now I can't remember what size I cast on or what needles I used. I think it was a size 2. I think it was 13s and 15s. I also discovered that the pattern was for a crew neck. Oh well, at least I can use the back.
At this point, I still didn't suspect that the sweater was cursed. But after today's experience with it, I'm sure of it.
First, I cast on two stitches short. I found that out after four rows. Next, I realized the pattern called for a k2, p2 ribbing but I did k1,p1 on the back. I figured that out after five inches knit. Then I knit in garter instead of stockinette - that took just two inches to discover. And finally, I forgot to switch to the larger needled after the ribbing. That took a whopping 8 inches of knitting.
I'm fairly certain I would have knit the whole thing by now if I hadn't had to frog so much!
Now, if I wasn't convinced of the cursedness of this sweater - this blog entry - my first on my first blog - was entirely lost when blogger went down and I had to retype it.
But, I have a sweater back and half of a front. It's a big knit so it should knit up quickly. Right? I will keep hope alive. After all, what is knitting but a great adventure?

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