Then my husband tried it on, and you wouldn’t believe it – the sleeves were too short.

I ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> So I did it. I finally finished it. I actually managed to finish it in the 17 days I was allowed to work on it. I felt kind of guilty though, because I stitched up the last of the seams on the night of the closing ceremonies – I was allowed up until 11:59pm to have it done, and I finished at 11:30pm – so it was really close.

Then my husband tried it on, and you wouldn’t believe it – the sleeves were too short.

I had forgotten that the reason my husband buys his sweaters/shirts/sweatshirts 2 or 3 sizes too big is because of the sleeves. He’s always floating around in what he wears, but he does it because he has long arms – if he gets his own size, it fits him everywhere but the sleeves. I wasn’t payig attention, and was so engrossed in getting it finished before deadline that I forgot to add in the 3″ extra I had planned to make them the right length.

So on Monday, I took the sleeves off. Had to undo the mattress stitch up the sides and around the armholes – which I must say isn’t that easy. It’s hard to find that end to undo it! Then I had to “unbind” the sleeve ends, join in more yarn, and continue knitting the 3 extra inches on each arm. once that was done, I popped them back on, redid the seaming, and I finished it up Wednesday night. Hubby tried it on (and let me take some pictures) and it was perfect. He loves it. He’s all excited to finally have a sweater that fits him all over. (He’s actually wearing it to work today – so he wasn’t just saying he liked it to be nice!)

Anyway, so why do I feel guilty? Because I had to undo it, and it wasn’t fit to wear until Wednesday night – and the Ravelympics were finished last Sunday. However, the lovely people over there said that – because it *was* actually completed on time, it counted. Taking it apart to “Edit” afterwards was okay with them.

So I did finish my first sweater in 17 days, and it came out beautifully. See for yourself!

Why? I dunno. I know there’s some kind of prizes handed out when the Olympics are over (if you’ve finished your project) but I haven’t really paid attention to that. I think the reason is because I’ve been wanting to do something really challenging, and a sweater would be just that. I also work very well under pressure – when I have a deadline, it’s some part of my system that not only do I have to have it done by ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> Yep, I’ve gone and joined it.

Why? I dunno. I know there’s some kind of prizes handed out when the Olympics are over (if you’ve finished your project) but I haven’t really paid attention to that. I think the reason is because I’ve been wanting to do something really challenging, and a sweater would be just that. I also work very well under pressure – when I have a deadline, it’s some part of my system that not only do I have to have it done by that deadline, but I have to have it done before that deadline.

I’ve never knit a sweater before. The Olympics last 17 days. 1 sweater in 17 days.

I’m nuts.

But I’ll be damned if I’m not gonna try!

My husband is way excited about me doing this.

My husband is actually a little excited by this. even thought his friends said to him that they didn’t know he was married to an eighty-year-old woman. (haha – because I knit and sew, and I even knit while I’m in a rocking chair, etc. etc.) Probably because of the choice of sweater. When I first saw a picture of this pattern, I immediately thought of him – it’s just his style. Even the color screams “Mike! You want me!” So I bought the pattern and tried to knit it, and couldn’t. It just wasn’t doing it for me. Maybe it was the yarn I’d originally chosen for the project. But when I saw the Ravelympics were coming, I figured what better chance would I have to force myself into this? So I ordered the yarn, I’ve been getting it ready to go, and on Friday at 9pm EST, I’ll be casting on and knitting it for 17 days.

At the end of the 17 days, he’ll put in the kick-ass sweater and wear it to work, so he can rub what his 80-year-old wife made for him by hand (I need names too – so when we have parties where I cook, I’ll make sure to create something nasty for them!)

Anyway, I’m a little excited about it, and I hope it works out well. First attempt at a sweater – will I go insnae? Or will I actually do it?

We shall see!

I’ve joined the Ravelympics with one project – a sweater I’ve been dying to knit up for my husband. I’ve never knit a sweater before, so I figured this was a good challenge to test myself with. I’ve already got everything for it, and I actually started ... read on, Fisherboy »]]> I’ve been knitting a lot lately. There’s some projects on my Ravelry page that I’ve updated and enjoyed (except one!) doing – but over the last week or so, I’ve started about 10 different projects and ripped them all out.

I’ve joined the Ravelympics with one project – a sweater I’ve been dying to knit up for my husband. I’ve never knit a sweater before, so I figured this was a good challenge to test myself with. I’ve already got everything for it, and I actually started it twice – but again, I’ve ripped it out every time.

I think part of my issue is yarn. The other part is something else that I’m not sure what I can do about.

I have a huge list of projects I really want to tackle. My library has almost 30 PDF files of stuff I want to do (and it’s growing), and I can’t stop browsing the patterns… well anywhere I go to find patterns. I have a stash that I built quickly, when I first began knitting in October. I didn’t know a damn thing about squat, so I just went to Michael’s and loaded up on stuff I could practice with. In the few short months I’ve been knitting, I’ve learned quite a bit: about how I progress, what I do, what holds my interest, and what to knit with. And what I think is really holding me up is my stash – I have a TON of acrylics (in colors I don’t particularly like) and I have a huge wad of cotton. I have a little bit of nice yarn that I’m not quite sure what to do with, and I have a small stash of Fisherman’s Wool that I really like to knit with, but I can’t figure out what to knit with it.

My other issue is designs. I have a TON of knitting pattern designs in my head, but I’m not familiar enough with the process to know what to do with them. If it were a perfect knitting world for me, I could find someone who loves to make patterns but has a lack of design ideas, and hook up with them. I see all sorts of patterns that I almost love – if it just weren’t for this or that thing – but I don’t know how to change it, nor do I know how to come up with something that works on my own (yet).

I need to somehow bust my stash. I need to get rid of all of this crap I started, and get some goodies. I need to start projects that I really want to work on, but haven’t because I’m surrounded by crap that I don’t know what to do with. I’m not a “hoarder”, so I feel like I have to get rid of what I’ve already got before I can go out and buy more stuff.

So that’s where I am right now. I love knitting, but I’m just not feelin’ it right now. I feel like I need to figure something out before I burn out on being stuck.

Yes, I know it’s not convincing you to come back.

This domain and site are seriously personal for me. In this regard, it really is all about me. I run my own small business (doing web ... read on, Fisherboy »]]>

So I’m about 95% complete with this site right now. I don’t know how many incarnations this site has gone through over time, but it’s been many. I’ve started and stopped this blog I don’t know how many times in the past – I’ve gained followers and lost them again.

Yes, I know it’s not convincing you to come back.

This domain and site are seriously personal for me. In this regard, it really is all about me. I run my own small business (doing web design, actually) and there are many times which I’d like to say something, but refrain because it has no place on my business site. And when your method of income is doing a lot of computer work, sometimes you just want to stop looking at the screen. So off and on I’ve gone, and here I am for another round.

This time, it was knitting that brought me out of the woodwork.

See, I’ve been running my own business (yeah, I know I said that part) for eight years now. Quite frankly, it was my intent to move very slowly. I wanted to wait until my two youngest children were in school full-time before I sat down and lamblasted the internet with my savvy marketing techniques, and became an instant success (“instant” being relative, because my plan was to spend my slowly-growing business by doing things methodically, and in the correct manner).

Funny how things never go as planned.

In the last 8 years, my little business has grown much faster than I wanted it to, and I’ve been like that little petite woman in the park, walking twenty dogs at once – just letting them drag her down the walk, hanging on for dear life, and waiting for the opportunity for a break. But it’s relentless. I finally had to force myself to stop. I was letting my business control me – not the other way around. So I went on sabbatical.

And somehow, took up knitting. I think it was because during the first week of my sabbatical, I was cleaning like a madwoman – I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was going through some old stuff, and found a set of knitting needles. So I started looking things up, and within a couple of weeks, I’d made a scarf. I was then officially hooked.

I think my husband enjoys it because, before, any time of day or night you would find me in front of my computer. But now, I can’t wait to get to my knitting projects. I’m having a blast, and I think it’s keeping me sane.

Anyway, because of all the knitting I’ve been doing (successful or not…) I needed a place to gab away about it all. After all, you can only say so much on the Ravelry forums – especially in the “Remnant” board (boy have I learned my lesson with that one! I do NOT enjoy walking on eggshells. I don’t do that board anymore – it’s just asking for an ass-reaming no matter what you say!) – and I’m the kind of gal who likes to spiel.

So, here i am, and all of this crafty stuff has given me so many inspirational design ideas in my head – I had to come back so I could have a place to put them. Perhaps anyone who might be listening will find it to be helpful to watch my blunders so they don’t make the same mistakes.

In the meantime, I need to finish up a few items on this site, add in more content, and get some FO pics up so you all can laugh at them.

Enjoy, and hope to see you again!