Despair! Doubt! Celebrate! (Finished Object)

At 3.15am on Sunday morning, I despaired. Another weekend where I had bitten off more than could chew - I had promised reports of finished objects this weekend and all I could see was that I was not going to deliver (again)!

Y'know, I have a thought process (I ignore it a lot to my personal detriment) that tells me, 'If anything you are doing hurts (I am thinking of my sport here) or takes you longer than it should, well - then you are doing it wrong'.

Between 17:30-20:45 and 11:30-3:15am on Saturday evening and Sunday morning I persevered, bullishly, against my better judgement and to my complete detriment. Eventually, I gave up and went to bed, discouraged - my lace shape tee seams were lumpy and grim.


Even now, I know that I should take half of them out. At that point, I thought that the only answer was for someone to have a bright knitting business idea, along the lines of the roadside placards one reads on leaving an IKEA car park:

‘No Alan key? Don’t panic, let us make your furniture for you!’
‘No sewing up skills?! Don’t panic, inept knitter, let us solve this for you!’

I hoped, I slept, I woke up but no elves had visited during the night and no (much needed) knitting support businesses had set up to take the sewing up problem off my hands.

So I got up, dressed (reflecting grudgingly, that it was lucky that I do not depend on my making skills to clothe myself). I quietly went back to a reference book. It pointed out quite clearly where I had gone wrong. Hmm. I made coffee. I quietly set to with the technique it suggested. It worked too, damnit.

Don't you just hate it when the answer is under your nose if only you could be bothered to read it? (I am not a reflective learner.) The second half of the top was sewn up in a scant 2 hours (including the addition of a crochet edging I had no idea how to attempt beforehand).

Here are the results demurely pictured on Megan:

Knitting Lingerie Style, Lace Shaped Tee
Size 38" with lengthened arms as it is now Autumn
Knit Duration?
End of August 2007 - Start of October 2007
Where Knitted?
In public - on the train and at knitting groups
Yarn Used
7-8 Balls of Debbie Bliss Cotton Cashmere


I enjoyed a quick moment of pride. I looked at the top with more critical eyes.

You know, even setting my seam mishaps aside, I am not sure that this top is really me (after all that work too).

So I put it on. I went around to my best friend's house, for her to take a few photos and give me her opinion.

So here, throwing all dignity to the wind, is the top - in action and on me!

We retired indoors for a gossip. My best friend told me that she thought my top is 'nice' but then confessed that she is not certain it is me - she thinks that it is a bit big. I worry that it is a bit short - we sat on her sofa and we doubted together.

The conclusion is that I might wince and put it in the machine on a hot wash, in the hope that it shrinks. It is 95% cotton and 10% cashmere - will that survive a hot wash?

So that is where I am on top acceptance so far: you have seen the evidence, what do you think?!

Mind you, that said, tea drunk, I came home, I looked at my top on Megan again and I quite deliberately cracked open a bottle of prosecco* to celebrate completing it.

Well…it is not everyday that you meet two of your three key 2007 knitting objectives, is it?! This top, however badly it fits or 'is not' me:

- is a completed garment for me (not achieved that before); and

- is a lace design (technique learnt this year and now applied to a full scale project. Okay, technically, the baby ballerina wrap ticked this box but this is lacy all over).

I have another objective but I do not want to jinx it as I am on track to crack it before December!

* Mel, I did not skip knitting last night just because I wanted to put a dent in a bottle of prosecco - although I did - in my defence, I also processed 3 machine loads of laundry and did some other admin too!