One of the delays in finishing this project was that it was pretty boring... garter stitch all the way, with no variation in the pattern (except for a YO three stitches in on the start of each row to make the border). Plus, working on this thing in the summer wasn't any fun. Wool keeps you pretty warm--really a winter project.
(Truth be told, it also sat in my closet for ages for no good reason.)
I finished it last night. The fringe around the end took forever and a day, but I've been working on it during episodes of "Breaking Bad" and "Downton Abbey".
I'm happy about how it came out, but I feel like I should have kept going for another six inches or so... but it was just SO BORING and SO WIDE at the top. Still, I think it's a good length with the fringe on it.
After I finished up, I went back and read my original post from 2007 about our trip. I remembered that I purchased the shawl/sweater pattern and Marsha purchased the "Clueless" sweater pattern. It's designed to look like a crossword puzzle when completed:
I was too intimidated by the cardigans to by a kit at the shop. Making one involves a process known as "steeking," a Norwegian technique in which you knit the sweater as a tube then (gasp) cut it down the middle to make a cardigan. I honestly don't know if I can put hours & hours of work into knitting something, and then (DOUBLE GASP) cut it.
Over time, I'd ask Marsha how she was doing with it, and she expressed frustration that the pattern wasn't very clear (the name "clueless" was appropriate, I guess). The yarn was lovely, but the pattern was vexing her something awful. And she was an expert knitter, so I knew it must have been tough.
Marsha died, quite unexpectedly, in October 2011.
After she died, I was going through her knitting and found the Clueless sweater kit. It had clearly been opened enough for her to read the directions, but she never started it--the yarn is still in twisted skeins. It's now in my closet upstairs, waiting for me to make the attempt.
