It's Still Winter

As part of my continuing mission to complete the projects in the box of UFOs/WIPs I moved between residences, I was forced to face my longest outstanding project. The earliest record of this sweater I can find is just over two years old. 

The pattern for this sweater is a vintage men's ski sweater. I love it.  I have it imagined as a gently fitted, waist-length ski sweater paired with a red skater skirt. I used almost exactly the same color scheme as the published version.  I wanted a lady sweater, not a gentleman sweater, so I tinkered with the charts and sized things down a bit. I also worked in some waist shaping. 

Back in 2012, the sweater was slow going, but I was making good progress on it. The sweater is raglan sleeved, knit flat in fair isle. I managed to finish both the front and back pieces, and I cast on a sleeve. Shortly thereafter, I bagged it up and buried it. 

I could claim ignorance as to why this project was banished. The truth is, deep down, I knew. It wasn't going to fit. In a tragic turn, I had managed to make the fronts and backs of my sweater simultaneously too big and too small. It was far too long. Far. Also, it was going to have a ridiculous amount of negative ease.  Inexperience and bad math. Vintage pattern in combination with modern adaptation. I don't know exactly where I went wrong. But it was a disaster. When I pulled it out of hibernation, my fears were confirmed.

I considered ripping it back. That seemed like a lot of work. All those colors. All those ends. Even with all the success I've had in knitting, it broke my heart to think that I had spent hours working on this project, and I would have nothing to show for it. 

The sweater wasn't going to work for me. I accepted that. I couldn't accept defeat, however. 

I was wallowing in self pity when my pal Doctor came over to console me.  Doc and her mom Hallie, my sister, are our new housemates. They've helped us fill some of the empty space we have and keep us company now that we're living in the suburbs. Doc did more than cheer me up with nuzzles and puppy kisses. She helped me with the solution to my sweater situation. It was like a light switch flipping on. The raglan shape of the sweater made the pieces a great shape for a dog sweater. It would take a little tinkering, but all the difficult bits were already out of the way. 

I undid the neckline ribbing at the top edge and picked-up the live stitches. Once I reached the end, I cast-on additional stitches using a backward loop cast-on and worked a collar in the round. Next, I picked-up stitches all the way around the body and knit a few rows of ribbing. 

To secure the sweater, I knit a little chest strap and fastened it with a button.  It worked pretty well. It almost looks like I planned it-if you look past the black dog/white sweater component.  

As I mentioned, I had both the front and back of the sweater finished. So, Danger got a matching outfit. I did have to rip down to shorten Danger's, but I still used the majority of the panel.

Dulce is a little bit jealous that she doesn't have a matching sweater. But it's not like she goes without. 

I really still want this sweater for myself. I hope to revisit it someday. If you don't think I'm a crazy dog lady by now, just wait until the lot of us are parading around in matching garments.