Tuesday, March 23, 2010

More tales from the frog pond



I frogged Forecast on Sunday night. Last week I was all excited about the idea of finishing that sweater. On Friday I knit the button bands and made my first mistake: I ignored the pattern and made 3-stitch button holes instead of 2-stitch ones. The buttons that I had bought were slightly bigger than what the pattern called for so I thought the 3-stitch button hole would work better. Nope.

After sewing on four or five buttons, I realized that not only were the button holes too big (so big that the buttons slipped out all by themselves) but the button bands were too long. As I tried the sweater on, I realized that the button bands were sagging at the bottom in a truly unsightly manner.

As I started thinking about ripping back the button bands and knitting them over again, with 2-stitch button holes and picking up fewer stitches along the lower ribbed section, I took a more critical look at the sweater as a whole. I realized that, as much as I've enjoyed the process of knitting this sweater, I wasn't thrilled with the finished product. The bobbles looked a bit odd on me and the garter section stretched so much around my shoulders that you could see through to the shirt underneath. No light colored tops under this one.

So I did the only logical thing:


I'm so much happier having this yarn back as a possibility of a sweater rather than as a sweater that I would never wear (and perhaps never even finish).

Now I just have to find some way to use these buttons. 


They're great, aren't they?

6 comments:

Gale Bulkley said...

Be comforted in that you are not alone in frogging a whole sweater on the very eve of it's potential debut.
With sympathy.

Brendaknits said...

I'm with you. A skein of yarn is full of possibilities. A sweater unworn is a sad dejected garment.

Estella said...

Great attitude about the possibility of a new sweater. Frogging can be liberating. Love the buttons.

Sel and Poivre said...

They certainly are great and especially so with that yarn! Isn't it shocking how small a button hole needs to be to really function well?

elizabeth said...

Very smart choice! I can't tell you how long it's taken me to realize that having a sweater done really doesn't count for anything if it never gets worn!

Rachel said...

I certainly agree with the sentiment that having the potential of unused skeins is much better than a finished sweater that will never be used. But I don't know if I'd ever have the nerve to rip so much when it's that close. I find the ability to do that quite impressive actually. Looking forward to seeing what's up next for the beautiful yarn and buttons.