Bless My Stars - I Made This!

I knit because I love it - like breathing and walking in the sunshine. It feels good, it gives me something to do while I'm doing something else (no book is so good that it can't be improved with knitting!)

But every once in a while I am astonished by what knitting can bring forth. Witness today's miracle, the February Ladies Sweater.

It's humble beginnings as a rather awkward creature with wing-like shoulders. (The 80's were good for music - not so much for the shoulder thing!) And these are terribly uneven wings that don't really like to do anything pleasant.



But I'll admit I'm a bit intrigued by the lace pattern:
You might notice that it resembles a sweater enough that one can actually try it on and see if one likes it. Do not get me wrong. I do not like it. I like the yarn and the color. I like the lace pattern. I dislike greatly the garter stitch pattern up top and the overall fit.

Notice how there aren't any fitting pictures? I really don't' like it.

So I finished it up quickly with little regard to, well, much of anything. It's not a favorite but MIGHT live up to being a precursor to something I like. I cast off the final sleeve stitches, wove in the ends, and tossed my newborn sweater into a sink of bubbles so that I could wash and block (it's a knitting thing - the first ever "re-shape and lay flat to dry" instructions.)

Wash. Rinse. Squish gently. (I might not like this sweater but I refuse to abuse good wool.)

I rolled this bad boy up in a towel to get the excess water out. Unrolled and ...

Bless. My. Stars.

It's light. It's airy. You can see the lace pattern. It's softer and lighter. It smells good.

This might be love! A little more fiddling and shaping and I have a real piece of work ...