Cat Puke Finished

I finished seaming the "cat puke" sweater today. I have mixed feelings about it, too. Knitting it was a great learning experience and it convinced me to think outside of the patterns. Usually I knit exactly to a pattern and I'm afraid to make any sort of changes, lacking the confidence to make anything turn out right without the lifeline of a roadmap.

I got the idea for this thing from a pattern in a book for a simple knit shell. Yeah, doesn't look much like a shell, does it? It was just a basic thing with a cable running up the front. Well, I kept the cable, and ran with the rest. I knit the sleeves a little tighter than most people would, but that was intentional. You see, Once I finished the body pieces, seamed the shoulders, and added the collar I realized two things: I was going to be cutting it REALLY close on the yarn, and the sweater was already a bit smaller than my gauge swatch had told me it would be. I didn't think loose sleeves would do for a tight-fitting sweater.

As you can see by the lovely modeled picture, it wasn't a total disaster. I think I might even like the color. But it IS pretty small-ish. It shows off the fat rolls perfectly, and if I were to do it over again I'd certianly add a couple of inches to it in length. If I had yarn left over I might have been tempted to cut off the ribbing, and kitchener on a little more, but alas, there's literally less than 3 yards of yarn left, and that's counting the little inch-long scraps. Sure, I could go buy some more and do it, and I haven't completely ruled it out, but lets face facts here: It's a sweater and I live in Florida. It's mostly acryllic yarn bought on the cheap and it was simply an exercise in trying something new. I'm not entirely disappointed in it. If it were wool I'd take the steamer to it, but being the synthetic beast that it is, I don't know if there's any hope of eeking out another inch or two that way. It'll just spring right back into it's original shape and size and leave me cursing.

Now that I'm convinced that I'm capable of knitting something on a larger scale than socks and baby stuff, maybe I'll indulge myself and pick out some luscious fiber and make another one.

In other news, I treated myself to a haircut today. This is one of those things that I really only do about twice a year, and it was entirely necessary. I'm feeling about 10 pounds lighter, and I'm loving it.

Yes, that is my natural curl. It was hiding all this time under the weight and ponytail that is my usual 'do. My hairdresser is good to me. She's also good to my kid. She took one look at his head today and laughed and asked who did it to him. Then she sat him in the chair and evened out the edges and around his ears, gave him two lollipops, brushed him off with a giant brush and baby powder, and then got him his own special chair to sit in while she set to work on my mop. I heart her in such a big way- especially since I'm not one of those regulars that's in there every other week. Did I mention that she didn't carge me for fixing his? Sure, it wasn't a major thing, but still- this is someone who gets paid by the job, ya know? I am known to tip well, though.