What I Ought

This is a beginning-of-the-weekend photo. The "Y" -- in fact, the entire front -- is now done.

I'm worried that the whole thing feels drab.

The yarn (Valley Superwash, from Webs) is quite nice, texture-wise. And there haven't been too many knots, etc. Not sure how well it will hold up, of course.

What is really bugging me is the color. (And my messy intarsia, but I'm going to stitch around the edge of the Y, so most of the blechiness will be well hidden.)

As I'm knitting, the color sings to me.

"Blah, blah, blah. I'm so blah. Blah, blah, blah."

It bugs.

Did the Doctor choose the wrong color?

It feels like the wrong color.

But what were the other options?

Though they were cheerier, they were also not right at all. Way too bright.

Also, my own wardrobe features at least one sweater in a similar color.

So either they're both pretty bad, or neither is.

And I just can't tell anymore. (The singing is really distracting.)

The fundamental problem, I think, is that this project really calls for a tweed. A nice mixture of blah and bright. Not too bright. Not too blah. (I love tweed. Can't go wrong with tweed.)

But who makes tweed superwash?

And superwash is key to this sweater being used (or used more than once, anyway) by its intended.

So my plan is to ignore the singing with some "La La LA, I can't hear you!" tunes of my own.

And to finish it as quickly as possible.

I am also concerned that the front might be a scootch longer than the back.

It is extremely hard to measure them -- ALL of the edges curl up something fierce.

They'll calm down well enough after blocking and seaming.

But those things are supposed to happen *after* one knits to approximately the right measurements . . .

So, here's what I'm doing: I'm calling both the front and back "good enough" for now. If, after blocking, the front turns out to be too long, I'll just rip back a few rows.

Simple enough.

Except that the pattern calls for sewing the shoulder seams, and picking up stitches to do the sleeves.

That won't really work here.

Unless I block the front and back before dealing with the seams at all.

But that's not really my style.

So I'm doing the sleeves as separate pieces and will sew them in later.

Sure, that's more seaming than may be strictly necessary.

But seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak.

Seaming is better than heartbreak

And that's my St. Valentine's message to you.