Just Do It

You know what? There should be a name for that thing knitters get where they finish up a project except for the tiniest little final detail (blocking? buttons?), and then let it sit for weeks (months? years?) on end. See this?

This is a pile of sweaters (whole sweaters!) that just need some tiny little insignificant detail to be completed before they're ready to be worn. Most of them just need to be blocked...I don't even have to be around for that! I can just get them wet, spread them out, and walk away!

OK, in all fairness, three of them need buttons and I just picked those up this weekend.

One of them needs sleeves sewn in. Yes, I am finished knitting my beloved B-Side and all I have to do is sew in the sleeves, block it, and stitch on some cute buttons. I have had some issues with that sweater though, so I'm a little scared to touch it.

I don't know if you remember this post, in which I was still excited about knitting the sweater but had to make adjustments to the sleeve size. The new sleeves worked out until...I ran out of yarn!!! I still had to knit the button bands and the shawl collar, but I had already run through 13 balls of yarn...how is this possible?!?

I called up the store where I originally bought the yarn, and they said they had two balls left in my color, but they weren't the same dyelot. Since I had managed to finish up the sleeves by unraveling my gauge swatch, I figured it wouldn't be too bad if the color on the button band and collar were slightly different.

I waited patiently for the yarn to be sent to me, but when it got here...it was the wrong color entirely! I called up the yarn shop again, they said they would put the proper color in the mail and do an exchange on their end when I mailed the yarn back to them. I waited patiently for my new yarn to arrive. When it did, it was the wrong yarn!!! They sent me the worsted-weight version, not the DK-weight that I had VERY SPECIFICALLY requested (and which they had correctly entered on the receipt, I might add). Since I had not been all that impressed with this yarn store in the past, I didn't even bother to call them up a third time. I just went up 2 needle sizes and knit the button band and collar in a different size yarn. Unfortunately, I ran out of yarn (again!!!) on the collar, so it is only half as long as it should be. *sigh* I will just have to live with it, I guess.

I have so much more to share, including some book reviews, but I can't spill it all out at once or else this post will be a million miles long. I'll try to post more often instead. You would think that an unemployed knitter would have more time to write blogs, but it's amazing how many other things I can get up to (knitting, anyone?) instead. I am going in for a second job interview at a very fun place tomorrow, so I may not be unemployed for much longer. :)