Buh-bye, Cloudette

Hey, does anybody remember this cardigan?

Ringing a vague bell? I started it in May of last year, then it went into the closet and hibernated for a while, then I pulled it back out in October and worked on it for a while, and then it hibernated again for a few months. I pulled it back out last week and got back to work on it, at which point it looked like this:

 

Nothing left to do but finish one sleeve make the other! Woo-hoo! The home stretch! FINALLY.

Today that cardigan looks like this:

Oh no I DIDN'T.

Yup, I sure did. I was almost done, and I tore the whole thing apart. I tried it on at the one-sleeve-finished stage and I hated it. HATED it. The belt, which I thought was such a cute, waist-emphasizing feature, was just getting tangled up. Worse, somehow I must have mis-measured something, because the belt sat waaaay below my waist. It didn't look cute and tailored, it looked sloppy and stupid.

I realized I would never wear this thing. Or rather, I might wear it once and feel uncomfortable in it all day, and then avoid wearing it ever again. Why force myself to finish a project if my heart wasn't in it? Life's too short, folks.

As I always tell my students, one of the great things about knitting is that it's one of the few things in life where you can actually get a do-over. Mistakes can be unraveled and corrected, and in extreme cases like this, whole garments can be undone and the yarn re-used to make something else.

Some friends who saw me right after I unraveled Cloudette asked me how I felt, after putting all that work into it and having nothing to show. Honestly? I felt great. Sometimes, what's even better than a project that's finished is one that's just DONE.

Comments

[Bam Bammerson]

So knitting has an UNDO button, huh? Nice!

[Sølvi]

My sister is an avid knitter, AND an avid unraveller. She will knit and unravel with a garn SO many times before she´s satisfied. I might add she is a terribly fast knitter... So, I bet she can relate to this post! I´ve not unravelled many big things, although I probably should, as I might more use of the yarn than a cardigan that only get used twice- year. Well done for unravelling! :-)