So, I knit a sweater in 9 days…

… but that’s not necessarily a good thing. We’ll get to that in a bit though. For now, here’s the big reveal!

• Pattern: Love Note by tincanknits
• Yarn: The Knitting Goddess Britsock in Charcoal held together with The Knitting Goddess Moonbroch in Rainbows and Dark Days
• Timeline: cast on 5/9/20; cast off 5/17/20
• More details (like, a lot of details) on my Ravelry project page

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Ok, I am so. so. so happy with this. It’s so bright and joyus and fluffy and fun! I feel like I never would have knit this in the past, I’m not really a bright sweater person. But the combo of this sweater (which I had been thinking about for a while ) and Operation Social Justice Warrior yarn and the fact that I’m not going in to the office or really anywhere to feel self concious about the clothes I’m wearing just combined into the perfect storm of this beautiful sweater.

I was a bit worried about pooling going in but I think it actually works really well! Once I got past the yoke, I added in the second skeins, and the rainbow yarn happened to be wound the other direction so the two colors played together really nicely in the body. There are definitely patterns but I think they change/play together nicely. Adding the A-line shaping I think helped with that. And then the sleeves being stripey was just an added bonus.

I also made several mods which I’m really proud of. It all started when I cast on the wrong size but as I was thinking about it, I felt like I would like it that way. Even though the finished product doesn’t look significantly different than the designer intended, I think it just fits me better and it makes me really happy that I sort of hacked this and figured it out. It gave me confidence to continue to knit sweaters and figure out what works for me and doesn’t. I won’t reiterate everything here, but there’s a mini novel on my Ravelry project page. I think it’s really important to share knowledge about shaping and stuff, and I don’t think I give away too much of the design. I always used to be a follow the pattern pretty exactly person, because I didn’t really have the confidence in my own skills. But as I knit more and more, doing different constructions and designers, I’m really seeing what I can do to be even more satisfied with the things I make.

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Now, on to the not so good stuff. I said at the top of the post that knitting a sweater in 9 days wasn’t necessarily a good thing. And like… yeah the reason why it only took 9 days is that I didn’t really sleep. The combo of insomia, a lot of conference calls, and the fact that there’s really nothing else to do made for the speed of this. I feel like sometimes when I get into a depression/anxiety place, I use knitting to avoid the things I need to do. Yes, knitting is awesome to relax and chill and I definitely get into a bit of a meditative state when I do it. But at the same times, I sometimes feel like I just focus on that instead of focusing on stuff around the house, talking with my friends, or even just feeling my feelings. It sometimes becomes a way for me to keep busy, especially in this time of not having many other ways to do that. Sometimes I need to remember to just stop and breathe and be.

I also don’t want to make anyone feel bad about their productivity right now. Like if you’re not knitting a stitch, that’s totally acceptable too! I didn’t really knit at all myself for most of April. Different people process things differently and that’s totally ok. In non-pandemic times, this would have definitely taken me at least a month to finish.

Alright, I’m off to go enjoy a St Germain spritz on the patio “with” my sister (FaceTime of course) to keep some vauge sense of normalcy. We’d usually be enjoying one at our aunt and uncle’s house. Are you doing anything like that during this long weekend?