I’m still plugging away at the sweater, although not having every hour all day to work on it has slowed me down a little. I have added the neckline stitching.  I ripped and redid the hem (i hadn’t gone down in needle size when I switched to seed stitch, and it flared a lot). And I’ve got one sleeve finished. It’s getting close, I should be able to knock out the other sleeve this week. If the weather cooperates and stays cooler, I could even wear the FO to Knitterpalooza on Saturday! I’ll probably bring it along to show off even if it doesn’t get cold enough to wear it though.

I also had a good combo hobby weekend in Pittsburgh this last weekend. My carnival jaywalker got to see Kennywood. This was a precautionary trip in case I for some reason don’t get back to Kennywood in October like I plan. I had a good day  visiting the park with my local-to-Pitts friends and got a little knitting done in line and even brought the sock out on the carousel.

On Sunday afternoon, Greg and I went to Knit One and spent a while petting the walls. I picked up some koigu and some calmer plus some dalegarn that I’m thinking will be for mittens. We had a nice laugh at the wrong assumption that Greg’s my adorable and patient husband. Although I suppose adorable, patient guys are a rarity in yarn stores, husbands or not. I think Mike might be really upset with me if I went and got married without telling him though.

Well, if all goes well, my next post will have a finished sweater. Wish me luck!

I’ve dreamed of my first sweater since before I started knitting. I’ve looked at a million patterns, made some miniature doll sized sweaters, envisioned a dozen different designs in my head. I’ve been planning and forming and knitting this sweater in my head for nearly 2 years now. It’s lived up on the top of a pedestal and I wasn’t quite ready to climb up and claim it. I’ve read a zillion posts on gauge, seen other people successes and read the stories and hopefully learned with them from their mistakes. And yet, with all that education and thought and energy, I never took the plunge. Sure, I made a couple false starts, but never actually jumped in with both feet and full commitment.

I’ve completely surprised myself. I’m a woman obsessed and astounded. I had the day off on Friday. A 4-day weekend. For some reason the itch hit hard Thursday night. I’d been burnt out all week, my brains were scrambled and I really needed the break. I’ve had these 15 balls of worsted mulberry-colored wool in my stash that I got on ebay for a song last year. They’re unlabeled, but I’ve done a felting test and they’re definitely wool. I sat down Thursday night with the bag of wool in front of me, pulled out my knitpicks needles and swatched. I browsed around Ravelry and found the free top-down raglan formula that I’d been looking for, measured my swatch, measured myself and figured out my neckline plans. Before I went to bed Thursday night, I’d washed my swatch, cast on and the first ball of yarn was knit up as the start of the neckline.

Friday I slept in. I pushed forward. I wasn’t sure what I was going to end up with, but I kept plugging away and after a lot of TV and a lazy day in my PJs, on Friday night I’d finished the V-neck, joined in the round and made it to the point of splitting out the sleeves. Saturday was more of the same. TV. Knitting. PJs. I just kept going and by Saturday night the body was long enough to sit below my chest.

Sunday I took the day away from the needles to meet some friends at Indiana Beach, we had a relaxed visit and had a lot of fun hanging out at the park. But then on Monday I was back at it knitting fast and furiously in front of the TV. Before I’d gone to bed last night, I’d finished the body of the sweater and the fifth ball of yarn.

Three days. I’ve made the body of my first sweater in three days.

I’m still obsessed and I’ve never wanted a finished object more. The more of it I do, the more of it I want done. I just keep plugging away. It’ll get a neckline tonight, and if there’s time I’ll start in on the sleeves. If I can keep this pace and keep the motivation, I could have the whole thing off the needles by the end of the week. Seriously. Madness never felt so good.
The thing is, I’ve been fretting and fussing over taking the plunge into a hand knit sweater for a long time. It’s been this huge unsurmountable hurdle. And I’ve just clamored over it like it’s nothing. I don’t know my own strength.

For some reason though, I have this little tiny fear that if I clear this hurdle unharmed (I mean, it’s not just my first sweater, but it actually fits too!) that the knitting gods are going to strike back with a vengeance. For now though, I’m not going to worry too much about that. Because even if for some reason the knitting gods do strike back, I’ll have this great sweater to wear when I face them.