Yarn Harlot often says that experienced knitters don't make less mistakes, they make bigger mistakes, or something to that effect. And here I am with such a tale.
I cast on for a sweater. Before purchasing the yarn, I had picked a project, which I then somehow forgot. Because a friend asked me what I was gonna knit with it when it arrived and I was like, oh who knows. Except at one point I did, which I realized when it arrived and there was one skein in a different color.
Hmm, I thought, did I order wrong. And then I went back and looked at my patters and realized that no, past me had a very clear plan. And yes, I knew just which sweater I was knitting with a color work yoke.
Now, several things. One, this pattern was designed for sock weight yarn, and I had DK yarn. No big, I often knit a size or two smaller, and it works out great. (Sure, you might argue gauge swatching would help with this. And I mean yes, that is a very sensible approach.)
Two, I love top down, yokes and I have a fraught relationship, but I was sure this would be fine.
Three, this was a short row yoke, a particular thing that makes sense in my head and always seems to end up a little off center even when I am (mostly) following directions.
So, I cast on, and tried it on after a bit, and well, it seemed large. But boxy can be cute, I said and kept knitting. I reached the sleeve separation point and it still seemed large, and also the sleeves and the short row bit seemed to be lining up funny. I ripped back a bit, re-separated, and it seemed better so I kept knitting. I knit lots and lots of deceases in, figuring, sure, this will help. And I reached the bottom and tried it on.
Well, the decreases did help, but the top was still boxy, and not boxy cute, boxy puffy. But the sleeves will change that, I thought, and kept going. I finished the sleeves and tried it on. And then tried it on the other way. And it was still boxy. And the challenge with a sweater being boxy around the color work top, is that it is hard to fix without undoing the whole thing. And also, it is boxy at exactly the bit designed to draw the eye. No one ever knit color work and thought, I hope people look only at the rest of the sweater.
So, I did not block the sweater. (Blocking fixes many things, but not this.) I put it in a bag and went to knit another project for a bit.
And now I have unwound the yarn and we shall begin again.
