That is a sweater, knitted by me. It is a bottom-up, roll edged raglan sweater made with a pattern and yarn created in Portland, Maine. The sweater was meant to be a memento of a trip I took to visit my friend Adam, many years ago. I would, I decided, begin buying handmade yarn each place I visited and make a garment to commemorate my travels. Six years later, I have finally knitted that sweater.I made it in a size I think will fit me when there is not a baby inside of my body. I haven't blocked it yet. I keep hoping the body will grow longer and the sleeves less...ugly on their own. This is, I fear, wishful thinking.
Now that I am done with this chore, after a month of cramped hands and blue-stained fingers from the very darkly dyed wool, I have this to say about the pattern: how incredibly inefficient! And I loathe inefficiency. My knitting friend Laura is so right to point out the vast superiority of top-down sweaters knitted in the round. I spent seven hours on the seams and finishing of this sweater. I know it was seven hours because I sat on the sofa and watched the following movies while I seamed:
* Take the Lead (in which Antonio Banderas teaches inner-city youth that the key to their salvation is, in fact, the rumba or Viennese waltz)
* Something's Gotta Give
* Failure to Launch (though I finished the project halfway through)
Had I been knitting in the round, the sweater would be been done long ago. Oh well. Now I know I can do seams, should I ever be forced to again. In other news, here is a profile shot illustrating how lovely the sweater looks when paired with my tummy, which now juts past my bosom:
