Weekends Rule

This was one of those rare weekends we get sometimes in New England. Spring isn't quite here but it's definitely not winter, either. It was in the mid-fifties and sunny and clear; the brisk breezes were still; and there was nothing to do but get out and enjoy it. So of course it was also the weekend I finished my first sweater project and had to stay inside to make it up.

The sweater is based on the Skully pattern in Stitch & Bitch, but without the skulls or the slubby Rowan. No, I thought that any bulky-weight yarn would do, so I found Lion Brand Color Waves in Blue Lagoon at OSJL for $2/skein and figured I'd make myself a nice, easy, boxy sweater just for fun. Here's what I learned:

1) I learned to shape armholes.
2) I learned to pick up stitches around the armholes and neck.
3) I learned to make sleeves and a collar by knitting off my picked-up stitches.
4) It's practically impossible to check gauge on fuzzy yarn. DO IT ANYWAY.
5) If you decide to knit something based on the Skully pattern in Stitch & Bitch using Lion Brand Color Waves in Blue Lagoon that you bought at OSJL for $2/skein be prepared for the fact that what you are about to knit is a cross between Cookie Monster and a Snuggie, and it will in fact fit about 3 of you.
Awesome, huh?

But Beth, you ask, why O why didn't you realize that it would fit three of you once you'd finished the front? Why not rip it out and start again? What would possess you to waste so much time on something you will never ever ever wear where people can see you (and by people I also mean your parakeet Agnes)?

There are any number of answers to this, including the fact that I am obsessively completist, but here are the ones I used at the time:
• Maybe it's supposed to be that big
• Maybe once it's made up it will be smaller
• Maybe my hips are bigger than I thought
• I hate this stupid yarn and the sooner I'm done the better it only cost $2/skein anyway and it's all just practice besides I've got to learn sometime and oh my God it's going to make me look like Cookie Monster well maybe I can make a hat to go with it with googly eyes and have a Halloween costume for next year.

All of which leads me to the most important lesson, the one S&B tried to teach me, the one I've read about on every other knitting blog out there, and perhaps I kept knitting the Snuggie Monster in order to teach it to myself.

Be not afraid to rip.

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I did not spend the entire weekend alternately amusing and abusing myself for the Snuggie Monster sweater. I also pumped up the tires on my bike (aka The Hoss) and took her out for her first spin of the spring.

I went down to Wompatuck State Park for my ride. It's a great park--miles of paved and unpaved trails and roads perfect for toodling around in. Some of them still had snow on them, which I rode through! I rode my bike on snow!

As I said at the beginning of this blog, it was a gorgeous weekend and today was a gorgeous day.