Friday, February 6, 2009

F.O. - Finnish Off, or Fuck Off?



i'm having a serious go at decluttering my house these days. really serious; not only get rid of, organise, but finnish off started projects. this sweater is a clear winner in any procrastination competition: i started it 11 years ago.

i bought the pattern and yarn in copenhagen when my boy was still a baby, and started knitting size 3 y.o., so i should have a fair chance at finnishing it. it was my first several-colour, patterned knit.
it was a drag.
a serious Fuck Off. on needle size 2,5 and 3 (european sizes..).

several failed attempts to get friends and mothers in laws (just one, really) to knit it for me made me stash it. until i got pregnant again, 5 years later. here we go again. i did the arms this time. still a serious Fuck Off. i stashed it again.

so, when tidying up the house a couple of weeks ago, i dug it out from the stash and decided to make it a Finnished Off instead. if not for my kids, then for someone else's. but you know what? apart for the sweater and arms being too short, it fitted my girl. and in a true 'make it proper this time' manner, i unravelled the arms and knit them again, cause they were seriously bad knits (old arm pictured above, old and new below). i made them longer, and am now knitting the neckline. all i need to do now is to make the 'body' itself a bit longer as well, and sew the thing up.

and even if it's never worn by anyone, at least i discovered this: i've become a better knitter than i was 11 years ago.

2 comments:

Lisa said...

Your post made me laugh out loud! I felt your frustration and have been there before. Why do we feel so inclined to finish things that bring so much frustration? Which is better for our spirit....to just let it go or have the satisfaction of the finished product? I really don't know. Good luck finishing the sweater, it is beautiful!

Lisa said...

I put up some other ideas for using old sweaters on my blog. I hope you enjoy it and can use some.

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