Annual Christmas Sweater: I won't let myself be great

In 2016, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. In 2017, I planned out a much more complicated sweater than I actually knit. Am I becoming predictable?  If you’ve missed my other three sweaters, check out this handy tag I made to get all caught up, then hop on back here to read about another sweater that wasn't exactly as epic as I had wanted it.

No color work? What gives?

2017 was going to be the year. I was finally going to go all out, big Intarsia Christmas tree smack dab in the middle of my chest. The ornaments were going to be bobbles, maybe big, themed buttons. It was going to be awesome. But guess who had to nix that idea because she hasn’t learned Intarsia. Yeah. That’d be me. Why won’t I just let myself be great?

But Mandi, that still doesn’t explain the one color sweater. I’m talking in circles because I honestly don’t know. I think I had it stuck in my head that I needed to knit something out of my Bernat Handicrafter Book 538 (I was today years old when I learned that it was Handicrafter, not Handcrafter). I soon realized that none of those sweaters were my idea of Christmasy. It didn't matter, though, I had my heart set on a vintage inspired sweater and this pattern was the only one that had an overtly Christmas theme.

So what pattern did you use?

I ended up going with Style No. 53 (such a sexy name for a knitting pattern, no?). I heavily modified it. It was originally a cardigan with the design panel centered on each side of the front. All I did was center that panel on the front to make it a pullover. The pattern called for set-n-sleeves, but I wasn't about to try and figure out how to shape them in pattern so I converted them to dropped sleeves. I have to be honest, I do this too often. I really don't think a dropped shoulder is the best look on me. But it's the easy option so this is what I lean to most. I need to fix that and step outside my comfort zone. Maybe next year.

Next Week

So, that concludes my backlog of Christmas sweater posts. This whole process has been fun to see how much my sweater knitting has improved. Next week… well, next week I'm supposed to have this year's sweater done, but procrastination has set in and we're not celebrating Christmas until the middle of January, so we'll see what happens.

Wanna see if I finish my current Christmas sweater by Christmas day? Follow me on Instagram to see all my work-in-progress shots.