in a rush.

As usual I have a zillion and one pages to read before I sleep, but I wanted to post a picture of the finished baby sweater. Finally, a completed baby object! Well, except for buttons--I must not be too hasty. I have the buttons though, that's a start. At least I have something to offer the new arrival, even if it turns out to be a "he" and he never wears it. I think it is too big for a newborn.

Did I mention I have a hangup about baby things? Can't figure it out. On this one calculating the decrease spacing gave me no end of trouble. I'm supposed to be good with numbers! Every decrease row (between the body and yoke, for example) I had to rip at least three times. The underarm increases are also slightly odd--later I realized that I could have had a stripe of plain reverse stockinette going all the way up, I don't know why I didn't do it that way. The yoke itself was bothersome, first because the underarm cast off is so small that putting the whole thing on circs strained the edges of the pieces and it was tight and fiddly to work. More critically, I didn't have a picture of the sweater to hand when I got there and I started doing the yoke in stockinette until warning bells flashed when the directions said to decrease every four rows. Had to rip that back too. There's more ripping represented in this little jacket than in just about any other thing I've knit.

I'm trying not to get too metaphorical (or do I mean metaphysical?) about this. I can think of many subconscious reasons why I'd have trouble completing baby things, but maybe I simply had a rough couple of weeks and was preoccupied. Does anyone else out there have a certain category of item that's particularly hard to deal with? Not because of technique or difficulty, but just because, somehow... know what I mean?

Comments

[June]

Hi Carrie,

The sweater looks so nice. Hope the baby's a girl! :D

I have trouble casting on anything more than 10 st. I don't know why. I've resigned myself to having to cast on every project at least 3 times before it's good. I've used the wrong size needles, twisted the cast on in the round, used the wrong yarn, had too inelastic a beginning, had the wrong number of stitches, you name it.

[Natalie]

I can't get through a sock without a mistake to save my life. I'm on my third pair of Jaywalkers, and I'm still messing this or that up... just for lack of what, focus? I cannot figure it out.

Congrats on becomine an aunt! Nice blog, too! It's my first visit.

[Elinor]

The sweater looks great! I have a similar hangup about afghans and baby blankets. I've never finished one. I've stopped pretending that *this time* will be different - now I just knit baby sweaters as gifts and forget the blankets!