A bad case of quickly changing knitting priorities

I've been planning my next  hundred couple projects even though a have a few (only 5) projects on the needles already. I have found a hundred few new projects that really excite me and I am ... ahem, sorry, I seem to have a bad case of queue-itis (it is so a word) right now.

Apparently, I am not one to have my queue set in stone. I would think that I would be a seasonal knitter. Coming into the summer months I am trying to look at smaller projects, like socks and mittens, but my attention keeps coming back to the sweaters. The voice in my head whispers that I could quite realistically have one or maybe two of the items on my queue done before fall. I am trying to be assertive when I tell her to shut up and to focus on our current WIP but still my eyes wander.

If I want to have my knitting priorities to be set in stone I had REALLY better stop looking at new knitting publications and on Ravelry.
Here's what's on my mind and in my queue these days:

1. Pont Neuf, design by Emily Wessel and found in Twist Collective Spring/Summer 2013. I LOVE this sweater!!  I am not usually one to choose such a fitted and feminine sweater (never mind the buttons, eek) but this one is gorgeous. You had me at the lace front panel and my heart was stuck at the 3/4 length sleeves.  I love the cheeky and peek lace. 

Photo Credit: Twist collective spring/summer 2013

2. Robin, design by Josee Paquin, published in UandIKnit and downloadable on Ravelry .  This is much more my style. I could wear this with everything I own! It is a loose fitting and comfortable sweatshirt style sweater with details that allow you to hint at some shape underneath. I love the ballet neckline and the scoop  in the back that will cover my bottom.  I am also really drawn to stripes right now.

Photo credit: Josee Paquin, Ravelry



3. Humbolt Raglan, design by Alexandra Virgiel and found in Knitscene Spring 2013. Again much more my style. This is a simple sweater with a lovely lace detailing on the front that allows for that flirty peek of lace camisole beneath. I have bought the yarn already for this one already as it immediately jumped to the head of my queue right after I bought this magazine. I bought Berroco Vintage, DK, in a hot pink.

Photo credit: Knitscene Magazine

and just one more:

4. Maybe this will be the next Birthday Mitten for my sister. These are the How Cold Is It? mittens, designed by Drunk Girl Designs and available on Ravelry and on here on Etsy.com. These are fabulous, hilarious, and crude. Just like me... and my sister. So perfect all around.

Photo Credit: Drunk Girls Designs

 What's in your queue right now? Are you a seasonal knitter?

But for the yarn-overs...

A while back (November , I believe) I told you about a cardigan that I have been working on. The Lady Marple sweater or as I call it my Early Evening Cardigan. When it is complete it should look like this:

Lady Marple Sweater, by Nadia Crétin-Léchenne 
Picture © Nadia Crétin-Léchenne

 

Mine currently looks like this:

Maybe a blocking will help...

 

The body of this sweater went together quite quickly. I actually knit all of this in less than 2 weeks.  I was starting to think that I could be one of those knitters that slams out a whole adult sized sweater in less than a month. (Provided I use worsted weight wool, larger needles and have a lot of time to sit and knit.) I looked at this body and thought to myself that I had only 2 sleeves and a button band and collar left to go! Oh baby, home stretch! Right?

Right? So why didn't I continue on my hot streak and just finish? Because something wasn't right. But I couldn't quite put my finger on it right away.

I started looking at my sweater and comparing it to those  Ravelry completed by other knitters. I liked theirs better but could not figure out why mine seemed... lacking.

Was it the colour or yarn? No, I still liked both. Although I was a little nervous now about this yarn pilling under the arms after having read some reviews.  I was concerned but it wasn't a deal breaker.

Was it the waist shaping? No, I don't think so.  I ultimately decide to put in waist shaping despite the knowledge that my own shape has none. I figured that it really was slight shaping and maybe it would help me look like I have a shape. No big deal.

It was the cables. Specifically the yarn overs. Look at the pictures at the very top of this blog. Her sweater has beautiful cables with big open peeky holes. Mine have to be stretched to be seen. EXCEPT over a couple of rows, notably the left breast, where I must have forgotten what I was doing and completed a proper yarn over, completely by accident. Crap.

 I have put a white sheet of paper under the cables as contrast
so that you can see how open my yarn over are NOT!

So, what do I do now? Well, I am blocking it now but shy of physically opening  and stretching each yarn over individually they are going to stay as they are right now. The cables still look nice but just not as I had wanted them to look.

As I have discussed time and time again I am a process knitter and, as such,  I really do not see myself ripping this whole sweater to start again. And if I am not prepared to rip it back then I have to be happy with it as it is now. But in my mind it isn't the same sweater.  ARGG!

Please leave me a comment to tell me what YOU would do?

In the mean time, I think I may take this an oppotunity to start a new sweater... while the jury is out.