Christmas in March

I promised months ago that I would share the Cobblestone Pullover I made for my Dad for Christmas. It was a hush-hush project, because I didn't want him to have any idea that I was knitting him anything, let alone a sweater.

The problem with it being a total surprise is that I knew the fit wasn't going to be perfect. My Mom helped by taking about a dozen measurements from one of his best fitting sweaters, but since the Cobblestone has a round yoke and none of his sweaters did... it wasn't exact. The yoke itself is a little too long, the neck is too wide, and the sleeves are a little too long. (I lengthened them from the pattern since he is tall but apparently I didn't stop knitting until they were gorilla length.)

Here is a photo of the finished (1st time around) sweater, and a less then flattering but cute pic of my Dad opening it Christmas morning.







After months of what felt like non-stop knitting, I just couldn't touch it for a while - let alone rip it apart. So it sat in a sad heap in my knitting bag, mocking me to just finish it already. So in February I got up the nerve to rip the yoke out, and ended up the three separate pieces again. (Body and two sleeves.) The idea of working on it again after finishing once makes my tired, but the thought of knitting something new makes me feel guilty, so I don't knit anything. I pick it up every night and look at it, but can't find the energy to pickup all those stitches and calculate for the smaller yoke I want to make.

(It's making me tired just typing this.)

BUT. I really want my Dad to have this sweater. It's probably going to be too warm for him to wear this season still, but at least it will be ready and waiting for next fall.

I am setting a goal for myself. It will be finished (2nd time) by April 11, two weekends from now. Or else it might never happen.

As a little motivation for that "Never Give Up" spirit, here is Reggie attempting to sleep on his favorite chair even after I've piled it up with junk.

March.

Really? March? Wow.

I think the second biggest secret to being an adult is that time moves faster and faster the older you get. (The first is that you will never feel like an "adult" the way you expected to as a kid.)

Aside from the fact that we have had piles and piles of snow dumped upon us this winter, things have been good here. I have been keeping busy with a lot of good things, some of it knitting and fiber related.

Knitting has moved from must-do-every-time-I-sit to a relaxing in bed hobby. I'm fine with this right now, because I'm sure it will cycle around again soon. I've also been itching to spin lately, so I'll probably to that soon. And sew. I've got a pile of sewing projects built up since I hate to drag out my machine and set it up for one little thing.

I've also been trying to read, exercise, and sleep more. See? Plenty busy.

One of my goals for the year (some may call it a New Year's Resolution; I don't) is to enjoy each day and not spend so much time dwelling on the future or the past. It's working. I'm in a good place in my head and things are going well.

I've redone my craft room and added some new (IKEA) furniture. Once I get things picked up and organized a little more, I'll share photos or a video.

I haven't dumped photos from my camera's memory card since Christmas, but I hope to upload them to Flickr soon and start post here more regularly again. I am starting to miss the knitting community and Ravelry - if you can believe it, there have been entire weeks where I haven't logged in!

See you again soon.