Leading to This

   It has been something very close to 20 years since I first learned to cast on, make the knit stitch, and bind off.   It has been close to 10 years since I taught myself the purl stitch, expanding my knitting world by 100%.   Think of it...10 years in which I could do nothing but garter stitch rectangles, I kid you not.   No wonder I didn't like it that much.   Five years ago, I learned to use DPN's and circular needles to work in the round, allowing for projects that were not, by the grace of God, scarves.   The fire caught in me and each project I took on taught me new skills...increases, decreases, yarnovers, shortrows, colorwork.  I have made hats, lace shawls, mittens, stethoscope covers, socks, some of which I'm not quite ready to refer to as my own design.

   Until yesterday, I considered it a dance.   My life in knitting was wheeling from one randomly chosen delight to the next, going back and forth between easy and difficult, new and familiar.   Now I know that, in fact, it was all leading to this.   I feel like I can, for the first time, feel comfortable calling myself a Knitter, because I have crossed a major frontier and can never go back.   And it was good :).

 

I have knitted and seamed my very first sweater.   It fits.

 This is Jalapeno Flavored Cheesy Poof, and he is beautiful.

 SPECS:  Pattern: Cheesy Puffs, by Jillian Moreno
                 Source: Knitty.com   Winter 2005 issue
                 Minor alterations: My husband has arms ten miles long or so, so approximately four inches were added to the sleeve length.   Body was size M, but sleeve length requested for that size seemed pitifully short for him.
                 Yarn: Misti Alpaca Chunky, Hunter Green Melange colorway, nine hanks.  Purchased from a now-gone LYS.  
                 Needles: Size 10 aluminum straights, probably from Boye, and a size 9 circular for the collar
                 Start Date: sometime in spring-summer 2010.

    The knitting process overall was pretty simple.   It started out strong, and I cast on pretty much right away after the yarn purchase because I had fallen in love with the big chunky softness of this yarn.   The pattern got a little...meditative...after the entire back panel was complete, and the front panel barely got beyond cast-on as other projects captured my attention.   You all know how it is.

   My poor husband had almost lost hope that I would, in fact, finish when January 2012 hit.   My work involves short tasks to tend to interspersed by up to an hour of downtime, so I needed to fill it.   I hit on a combination of my two favorite things to do, reading, and knitting with the radio/TV in alternating bursts, as a semi-productive use of that time.   Thus, my usual post-Christmas knitting slump never occurred this year.   When the last of my Christmas catching-up was done, I fished around on my UFO shelf and the sweater came back to life.  Within a week, I had a front panel.   Within another two, I had two sleeves.   I was finishing entire hanks in a day, absolutely on fire.

    I recently picked up Principles of Knitting by Hiatt and Knitting in Plain English by Maggie Righetti from the library to figure out the best method of seaming it, then I just went for it.   Last night, as I watched a DVD of a recent miniseries of Jane Austen's Emma, I finished the seams.   Yes, his ends are not yet woven in, and he is in need of a quick blocking, but he is currently one of my proudest accomplishments.

This is Jalapeno Cheesy Poof in vest-like form, awaiting the sewing on of sleeves.   

My husband in his new sweater.  

   Doesn't my husband look so happy to be wearing him?   Here's to being kept warm for years to come, my love.