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Wednesday, February 17, 2021

This Sweater Made Me Cry

I made this sweater for Alex, and he wore it to work. When he came home at the end of the day, the sweater had stretched out and looked terrible. It was pulling not just in the hem but also in the sleeves and neck. It looked like the entire sweater was melting off him.

I cried.


Pattern: Svenson by Jared Flood
Yarn: KnitPicks City Tweed DK in Avocado

I probably cried more because I was having a stressful week and feeling overwhelmed with several work projects going on at the same time. But I also cried because of all the work and all the money I'd put into this. I mean, look at all those cables! They took a lot of time.

The yarn is soft and wonderful, and it will work well as something else like a shawl or even a blanket. I loved all the details in the pattern, too. It included instructions for little extras like a sloped bind off and a tip for binding off cables so they're not super curly. I definitely want to knit another Brooklyn Tweed pattern at some point.

The irony here is that if you've looked at the spring issue of Interweave Knits, you'll find my piece on frogging sweaters on the back page. I talk about how we shouldn't feel guilty for frogging sweaters. But this isn't guilt I'm feeling right now. I'm going to have to frog this sweater, and I'm really angry about it.

I'm so angry, in fact, that I don't even want to start another sweater.

For now the cable sweater is on the closet shelf, pretending it fits just fine. But soon I'll work up the courage to pick it apart.