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!