Girl Who Knits

First off...I must say thank you for all the nice comments on my stockings.  I wish I had a way to email everyone who leaves a comment...but I don't.  So thank you.

I have decided that I am really pleased with how they turned out.  I think my problem is that I get a little attached to the things I knit.  We spend so much time together and I have images in my head of what they are supposed to look like and when something does not go exactly as envisioned then I get a little bummed out.  I need to get over it. 

One example of a project that has suffered from my issues is Paula.  Paula is a sweater I worked on in the fall of 2005.  I finished it a while ago—well, I was like 96% finished.  I put Paula aside because after I seemed it, I tried it on and it just didn't look right to me.  All I had left was to knit the tie but I got frustrated and decided we needed some time off from each other.  As these things go, Paula was left forgotten.  Once the Knitting Olympics were over, I become consumed with a desire to finish up some loose knitting ends that I have...starting with Paula.  So I tried her on again and was cringing as I walked to the mirror to see the damage.  Oddly, when I looked in the mirror, it didn't look half bad.  In fact, it looked pretty good.  I thought, "surely, there had to be something wrong with it for me to cast it aside in despair."  The only thing I could really see was that the collar was seamed a little funny (giving me a slight Elizabethan look) but even that didn't look bad.  Honestly, what is my problem?  So last night I knit the ties and now I present Paula:

I wore it to work today and got several..."you didn't knit that did you?" comments which are always satisfying.  All in all I think Paula turned out really well.  Here are some notes:

Pattern: Paula

Source: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk Collection

Yarn: Debbie Bliss Alpaca Silk (Plum), 20 skeins

Needle Size: US 8

Modifications: I lengthened the arms and overall length and I knit the tie instead of using ribbon like the pattern suggested.

Comments: The only comment I have is about the yarn.  This yarn is beautiful and soft.  Really I love the way it feels and it was nice to knit with but I can already see (after only wearing it once) that it has a tendency to pill.  I think that will age the sweater sooner then I would like and because of it I probably won't use this yarn in the future. 

So there you go.  This weekend I am going to tackle my long forgotten intarsia sweater and see what I can salvage from that so check back with me.  Also, I am waiting on some great online yarn purchases.  Plus, I have some exciting news about my sister/roommate that I will share soon.  All I am going to say now is, my little girl is growing up!