A year ago, I told my sister I'd knit her a sweater. After shooting emails back and forth asking her what she'd like, I learned that black was her color of choice and that she was "doing matron" these days. I wasn't quite sure what that meant, but settled on a vintage-inspired cardigan pattern I found in the Fall 2005 issue of Knitter's Magazine. Called Lucy, I figured it was as safe as sweaters come. I bought some Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran from elann and swatched. I went through some gauge issues. I sorted those out and began knitting. Almost immediately, I realized I hated the yarn, but I kept on, thinking maybe I was just being persnickety. Immediately after that, the miles of black stockinette began to bore me to tears. But, doggedly I kept on. I was going to make this sweater, darn it. So, I knit and I knit, and finished the body and sleeves.
I hated it. I stuffed it in the back of my yarn closet and forgot about it. Every once in a while, someone from my knitting group would ask about it, but as the months passed people forgot about it and the questions stopped. Then, last night, I figured maybe it's aged enough and is ripe for blocking. I pulled it out, and began sewing in the loose ends. I went to bed, got up this morning and really looked at it.
I hate it. Fuzzy, blurry, stitches. Yucky yarn. There's no way I'm working on it one second longer, let alone giving this to my sister.
Jaeger Matchmaker Merino Aran - 1, Knitdevil - 0.
9 comments:
Frog it!! I've not knit with Jaeger yarns very much - but merino sounds nice. What was icky about it?
Yeah, but don't you feel powerful now, having made that decision? Maybe you can frog it and use the yarn with some colorful stuff for some scarves. Ooh wait, maybe i can buy some off your hands! I've been wanting to make sweetie girl one of those crazy stash busting knit skirts from the Knit Cafe book.
Black and lavendar and chartreuse and hot pink and red. Guess which is my fave? The neice will love the poncho and I can hardly wait to see her sweater. Poor Sis, she'll have to wait for her sweater. Keep those needles flying, my dear, you do gorgeous work.
fumblefingers
A trip to the frog pond with that black "creation" will be very therapeutic, and you will then have some nice balls of black fuzzy yarn. Scarves? Pass some along to Mary for her Sweetie Girl? Park some in your Bauer bowls? Or if all else fails, I know "someone" who might make a charity shawl out of it...
Can you seam it up, felt it, and turn it into a bag?
I recently met a knitter who had a beautiful felted bag...asked her about the pattern and she laughed and said it was a "failed sweater."
That's just the Prednisone speaking.
Take it from someone who knows....
Glad that you frogged the sweater you couldn't stand. I'm a big fan of Jaeger Matchmaker, but I like the DK weight better, haven't tried the Aran weight. And it's mostly because they make a gorgeous shade of purple.
I, too, have a gigantic black sweater in my future. I'm delaying by demanding an engagement ring before I cast on, but we all know it's going to happen sooner or later.
Ya know, I had completely forgotten about this sweater and am not "doing matron" any longer so perhaps it was a karmic kind of thing.
And sis, in reading this posting I was reminded of how Grandma found it boring to use anything less than a technicolor spectrum for her knitting projects...did you see that similarity?!?!? Tee hee.
Aww..what was wrong with it?
I'm knitting about 3.5 kilometres of black jaggerspun at the moment and i must say it's trance-inducing...but in a good way....mostly.
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