Rip It, Rip It Good

I made the diamond scarf out of Wenlan Chia's Twinkle's Big City Knits, but I realized I would never wear it.

(According to Pearl-McPhee's quiz in Casts Off, I appear to be "product" knitter. That means I care about the usefulness of the end product. Or, it could mean I'm incredibly cheap about yarn. Because I also have never knitted a gauge swatch in my life.)

I love Chia's book, but thus far have been stumped by it, or rather, by the goal of making something that makes me feel awesome when I wear it.

I made the scarf, then ripped it out.

Around the same time, I saw a re-run of Stefanie Japel on Knitty Gritty, demonstrating a chunky cardigan project (the "better sweater").

Whoa, did this come out badly too. I've realized what my problem is. I think if you put chunky yarn on an amazon then you'd best be careful. And I was not careful in selecting this project--because I am not a careful knitter.

Don't misunderstand: Japel's Fitted Knits is my favorite pattern book of all time. It changed my (knitting) life. I recommend it to all of my acolytes. But this chunky cardigan just was not for me.

So I put the cardi on my small-boned slightly shorter friend S. and had her model it for me so I could photograph the work, before I ripped the yarn yet again. Here it is, nearly complete (pardon the stitch-holder in place of button):


As you can see, I made it out of two colors of yarn -- Classic Elite "Alaska," an alpaca blend. I also shortened the sleeves. Here's the sleeve detail:


And the back view:

I told S. that if she thought she would wear it, she could keep the sweater, but she wisely observed that in our southern clime, an alpaca-wool short-sleeved sweater-coat seemed chock full of clothing contradictions. (Not exactly her words, but you get the point.)

So I have ripped yet again, and have chosen another project from Chia's book -- the "Magic Shawl." This time, I'll be careful.