Monday, April 23, 2007

I made it my b*tch!

I had the torture pleasure of proctering the TAKS test all day on Tuesday and Wednesday (which basically consists of "monitoring" the students, walking around the classroom, not talking and not doing any work. I started to go a little nuts). While having this joyful duty, I had a lot of time to think. Too much time, perhaps. One thing I was thinking of were all my "neglected" knits - you know, all those you loved while you were knitting them, that now live in the bottom of the drawer/back of the closet.

My Turtleneck Shrug was one of these. I love the idea of the shrug - warm and cozy - I have a soft spot for turtlenecks. But I just couldn't see myself wearing it - I felt weird wearing it to school, and I don't wear much outside of t-shirts and jeans on the weekends, so it sat neglected for over a year. On Wednesday, I decided to "make it work." So I ripped.

The turtleneck was simple to rip out - I had to cut out a bit of the bind-off, as I had woven in my ends too well, and couldn't find one to pull out. But the rest of the neck ripped out well. I had hubbo measure across my back, and then I put on the sleeves of the shrug, and had him measure between them. I reattached my yarn, and continued knitting in pattern from one sleeve, until I had enough. I was going to do a three-needle bind-off, but it was not very pretty. So I ripped it out, and kitchenered the stitches. It took a while, but it does look better. I did not center my seam, as I didn't want to have to knit from both sleeves (lazy). I don't mind it.







Results? Fantastic! I have already worn it to work once, and while I don't think it will see a lot of action, now that it is warming up, I intend to wear the heck out of it in the fall.

Final judgement? Be the boss of your knits - if it doesn't work, change, reknit, or rip it out. I feel so much better not having it sulking in the bottom of the dresser.

Title is especially for Emily. Love the skirt girl!

8 comments:

  1. A wonderful thought! I have a feeling that some of my knitting is being the boss of me . . . More on Ribby Cardi today. The fit is just not right, huh?

    ReplyDelete
  2. I'm going home tonight to tell my projects that they are not the boss of me! Looks great on you too!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I love it! You tell your knits whose boss. I've always liked the look of that shrug, but was unsure about the turtleneck. Fantastic mods!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great, great, great advice!!!!! All the time and money that we put into our knits - it's worth it to keep reworking them until they turn into something we will absolutely wear!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Way to be the boss!

    It's WASL time here in our state -- sounds like TAKS are no more fun than ours.

    ReplyDelete
  6. HAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!! HOW did I miss this post last night?? Thank you, Jenn! I think that sweater is totally your b*tch. (chuckle, snort)

    ReplyDelete
  7. I love it! I want something like that to have in my bicycle bag.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I totally needed to be reminded of that! Yes, I will be the boss of my knitting! Thanks. And the shrug looks great on you!

    ReplyDelete