*I’m trying out pictures of my garments that are not on my body as the model, clearly still dialing it in*

(if you missed part 1, the sweater’s unraveling, you can read it here)

I often wear this sweater that belongs (belonged? I’ve definitely stolen it at this point) to my dad - it’s big and slouchy and a little scratchy and in my mind, it’s perfect. I wanted a sweater a bit like that, and I, not being immune to trends, also feel influenced by the seemingly worldwide love of Babaa sweaters. I wanted to make a big, slightly cropped, cozy sweater with long sleeves that I could pull over my fingers (which I loved to do as a child, and which still delights me to this day) and sleeves that could be pushed way up to my elbows.

I went about my search on Ravelry (as one does), and found my friend Vivian Shao Chen’s Babaa-inspired sweater - complete with notes on how she altered the pattern to make it so (bless ravelry users who leave notes! I lack the forethought (and afterthought), typically). I had started to knit the sweater using another pattern (Biches & Buches no55), and although I was enjoying knitting that, I quickly found that I wasn’t getting the dropped shoulder I really craved for this. So I bought the Oslo Sweater pattern and got to work.

I began by unraveling the baby things I’d made, it just seemed easier than unraveling a whole ass sweater. Josh, intrigued by my process, offered to help unravel the sweater, and so we sat facing each other on the couch unraveling the sweater, listening to Chaka Khan.

I didn’t swatch - which is perhaps a mistake, or a least a faux pax, but I figured my whole-ass sweater was a good enough swatch (although now that I think about it, my tension seemingly has changed these past couple of years). But luckily for me oversized means I don’t care about exactitudes (do I ever, really?).

I cast the sweater on during our trip to the East Coast in Nov of 2020 - Josh and I drove there and back to be able to see his family & we managed to get a couple of socially-distanced friend visits in, too, to our delight. I knit it during boring Zoom meetings for work, at night while I watched various trashy shows that I won’t subject you to reading by name, and on our cozy couch while we quarantined for 2 weeks after arriving back in CA.

The sweater was all-but-done (simply lacking its tubular bind off), for about 5 months (my camera roll really keeps me honest here, looks like I finished it on Jan 8th). I took a stab at the tubular bind off, and just could not get it to work for me. Frustrated with sitting in this learning phase, I put the sweater aside. For a few months, I felt sporadic pangs of guilt for not finishing the project - embarrassment that I couldn’t seem to work up the guts to get back to trying again, and nebulous guilt - productivity, late-stage capitalism, yadda yadda - you know the feeling, I’m sure. Eventually, I came to terms with the unfinishedness of the sweater, and then completely out-of-the-blue a couple of weeks ago I picked it up and just did it. I used the exact same tutorial I had used the time prior, but somehow this time it just worked. I really took my time with it and I took breaks - that helped me keep up my learning stamina and quelled my frustration.

happily wearing my sweater out to the beach on a trip with josh (who is hidden behind me in this photo)

I surprised myself with my attention to detail and desire to really get it as perfect as I could. I even unraveled and re-knit the neck to get it to fit the way I wanted. This sweater might be the first time I’ve really felt bold enough to take a pattern and not really follow it. I used it as a guide, which is sort of how I’ve been approaching all making this year - taking cues and then just making up the rest, adjusting as I see fit. I knit the body cropped to exactly where I want it to hit my body, just at my high hip, and I knit the sleeves flat, because my past in-the-round sleeves have tended to be a bit of a mess. I ripped out the sleeve to get it right, and learned a tubular bind off to really get it right.

It took me 7 or so months, but I have a sweater that I’m so proud of, one I really feel fits the bill of what I wanted it to do (be worn over dresses & really lean into my “sweet librarian fisherperson” aesthetic, which is my chosen aesthetic for the autumn/maybe forever). When I went to press publish on these two blog posts, my blog reminded me that I’d started writing both of them on December 31st 2020, I had the sense that this sweater would feel significant in a way that was worth sharing - I didn’t know it’d take me until June of the following year to put them out into the world, but again I am reminded that everything is right on time (& really, what’s the rush?).