Test Knit Sweater: Knitting is Finished!

 Hallelujah! Today I finished the test knitting. I love the sweater. The extra yarn came yesterday so I finished knitting last night and today. 

Here is a picture—as you can probably see: I knitted the wrong size.

Having said that, let me also say that I love this sweater and if you have known me long, like since childhood which was a VERY LONG time ago: I like loose-fitting clothes despite the fact that I actually look better in closer-fitting garments. Looking good has never been high on my priority list. Clean and covered are the look I go for, and even that is sometimes on a sliding scale depending on life circumstances.

So what did I learn while knitting this sweater for Cori of Irocknits? (Looks up her podcast on YouTube. She is a lot of  fun and so hardworking.)  What I learned: one should ALWAYS take measurements before starting any big knitting project. In the past year I have lost ten pounds. Big deal. What is ten pounds when one needs to let go of 150 pounds?! So I did not measure since I have a very strong memory of the ugly numbers from the last time I measured a year or more ago.

When the body and sleeves were nearly complete-enough so I could try on the sweater I noticed that the sweater that was scheduled to have 2-4 inches of positive ease seemed to have way more ease than that. Seemed like  good time to get out the tape measure. WELL!!!! I was surprised to find that the full bust measurement was down 3-4 inches!!! Another thing I heard recently is that sweater sizes should be taken from the high bust measurement. So…I should have knit at least two sizes smaller.  Well, since I measured myself the numbers could be wrong. I will not knit the sweater again now but next time I start to knit I will have someone else measure me and will verify that one is supposed to choose the size based on high bust.

Even so, I do love the sweater. And in all honesty, it is not really done:

There are a zillion ends to weave in. I sort of enjoy that, just not today or probably any day soon. 

NOTE: in case you wonder about the strange black shape in the first picture, well, I did not notice a hanging piece of yarn. I know I said I don’t care so much about my appearance but THAT was something I just could not abide. I just hope it actually disappeared. Yes, I could just ask Dear One to take another photo but I am just too worn down at the moment…

So one project done, so many more to complete.  I think I will go to Ravelry and organize my queue so I can get things finished(or started) in a timely fashion….