Pride cometh

... before the frog.

Allow me to explain.

Last year, to mark our ten year anniversary, I told Andrew that I would spin and knit him a sweater. I know that - had I *not* had some unforeseeable complications - I totally would have finished the sweater in 2011.

Shouldacouldawoulda.

So.

I made some excellent progress on my Ravelympics Ravellenics project- which was the Ribbed Baby Jacket by Debbie Bliss out of Malabrigo Rios. I finished the knitting with a week to spare in the Ravellenic games.

Occasionally I'll have a bout of finishitis, where I'm inspired to dig in my UFO bins and FINISH EVERYTHING.

"I'm going to finish knitting your sweater during the Ravelympics!" I told Andrew.

"Ravellenics," Andrew corrected, "And I'll believe it when I see it."

I pulled the sweater out. The sleeves were half-knit. (Both of them. I was knitting the sleeves two-at-a-time.)

"I can totally do this!" I told Andrew, who responded with a few less-than-encouraging skeptical remarks, including one about his sweater being in the "sweater [witness] protection program"**.

"You'll see. I'm going to get this done before the end of the Ravelympics," I said, with the confidence of a woman who Could. Not. Lose.

"Ravellenics."

"Sweater. Mark my words, husband."

I knit a few more inches on the sleeves before I realized that something wasn't right. I looked at the sweater diagram, and at their largest point, the sleeves should have been 18 1/2". This was closer to 15".

There was nothing wrong with the math on the sweater. I measured my gauge, and then remembered that when I swatched for the sweater, I needed to go up a size or two on my needles from the body of the sweater.

Which I neglected to do when I started the sleeves. Because I was so excited about powering through the sleeves. HUBRIS!

Before and after, the background is the body of the sweater

Andrew ripped out the sleeves, apologizing the whole time.

Maybe it won't get done during the Ravellenic Games, but since it's going to be in the low to mid '90s, I'm sure in the next few weeks will be *plenty* soon enough.



** How exactly would one get into the Sweater Witness Protection Program? Is this a sweater that has seen too much? If it's identity was made public, would it go to sleep with the frogs?

Pin It