What in the world did I do?

I know you're all sitting on the edge of your seats, waiting to hear about the Devil's Sweater. You'll say you want it to work out, and you're sure it'll turn out fine. But I know that secretly, somewhere deep, you really wouldn't mind hearing some other crazy catastrophe about said sweater. Admit it. I'm right, aren't I?

It's o.k. I do not hold this against you. These stories make us all feel better, and I am happy to tell you that I'm here to make you feel better. Oh, yes. It's happened again.

Brian's sweater has morphed from an EPS Raglan to a Boatneck.



Look at that!! (Don't you feel better? You know you do. That's what I'm here for...you're welcome.)



Poor Brian. This was supposed to be the final try-on. Then I was going to fix one underarm seam and weave in the ends, and that would be it. Finished. I clearly don't need to say that I had to frog back, but I will say it.



My question is, what did I do? Really. I have no idea. I followed EZ's directions. I honestly did. She said after the join (sleeves and body) to work 1-2 inches plain. I did...2 inches, in fact. Then I did the decreases as she said. Every other row, 8 sts. per row. Then when I had 8 sleeve stitches left on each side (usually it's 10, but with thicker yarn, she says 8) I did the neck shaping. All good.

But somehow, I have the right number of sleeve stitches left and a huge, wide neck opening, even with the ribbing. And the whole top section is just not long enough. It's like the neck of the sweater is stretched out because it's being pulled down too far. Which, of course, would be fine if Brian were some sort of ballerina. But he's not. I'm pretty sure he doesn't want a boat-neck-raglan. However, if you think there's a market for this kind of thing, I will write this pattern right up.



These are the sleeve stitches I have left. How am I to get more height?

I figured out that I have more stitches left than the 40% EZ recommends for a neck. I can continue decreasing every other row and get more height, but the sleeve stitches will definitely be used up. Perplexing dilemma.

So I did what every wise knitter does in this situation. I put the sweater in a solid timeout.

And I went to Webs. I mean, what else was I supposed to do?



Ah, now I feel better.

I picked up the Selbuvotter book that I've wanted since I fell in love with the Harlot's mittens. I introduced Krista (a Webs virgin) to a new vice resource for yarn. Some Aran Tweed yarn proved perfect for the Sunrise Circle Jacket I'm making next for me. No guilt--that was my objective for the trip. And some sock yarn for Brian and I jumped into my basket without my noticing, but that's a risk you take when entering this particular fibery haven.

By the way, if anyone's thinking of doing the Circle Jacket, please speak up. I'd love someone to knitalong with! Oh, I am a sucker for a KAL.

Here I am "pretending to look at needles" when I involuntarily grabbed some yarn.



Turns out the yarn is over $50 a hank. Um, so I put it back. Sadly. Very soft.

Here's Krista with our bags of booty:



And me, checking out "one more thing" before we go...



The store was in a relative frenzy while we were there, because the author of Weekend Knits was there. Very exciting. Krista and I were a bit too busy to go and listen due to needing to check everything out and not really knowing who she was. In retrospect, I kind of wish we'd taken some time, as another lady we met there said the speaker was amazing. I can't remember her name, though. (The author, I mean--I don't know the lady's name.) I can tell you that we met her while using a ball winder and swift for the first time ever. I don't know if Webs has ever seen two people get more excited about winding yarn, let me tell you! Yeah, we might have made slight fools of ourselves, but that's kind of just us, you know? Well, it's kind of just me, anyway.


Pretty, right?

Needless to say, I felt much better after our trip. Plus, we made a girls' day of it and did dinner and the whole bit, which was tons of fun. Yesterday, I felt ready to face the sweater again. I frogged back the ribbing through the neck shaping. I do have a plan for the sweater, but I want to hear all of your suggestions before I tell you what I'm thinking. Somehow I have the feeling that you'll have better ideas than I do. What do you think I should do?