The good, the bad, and the "meh," part 1

You see a sweater pattern. You picture how it will look after you knit it up with your skillful hands. You haven't messed up a pattern yet, and you're obviously a natural. It's going to be sweet! Sure, you spot a part or two that may trip you up, but no biggie because you're awesome. And then you start, and you remember that your imagination and reality don't always mesh. This is the story of the "meh" project, in this case, the boyfriend sweater. If you have a good boyfriend sweater story, this is a good place to share it!

After having successfully made myself a couple of pullovers (as in 2) my boyfriend started looking wistfully at my warm merino wool sweater. I didn't have anything I was itching to make, and he didn't have any good sweaters, so why not make him one? I started in early March, thinking I can get it done in about a month for him to wear on the chillier spring days. I didn't finish the damn thing till July.

There were so many problems! My gauge was way off, my measurements were off, the yarn didn't hold shape, I hated the pattern. I started and ripped it out again three times. I was slogging through a bulky wool sweater in midsummer. I seriously wanted to burn my knitting, anything so I would never have to see it again. Yet another problem was I had never made anything for a body that is not my own.  Here's an interesting tidbit of information: men's bodies, in general, do not have waists like women's bodies do. They are also larger...like big rectangular boxes. Don't get me wrong, I like men's bodies.  They can be quite nice. And my boyfriend is not a large man. But his body requires more yarn than mine does, thus slowing me down when I'm already dreaming of burning his unfinished sweater.

I went from being optimistic about knitting my wonderful boyfriend a wonderful sweater, to feeling sorry he would be stuck with it, because I wasn't stopping this far in. Oh no, I was committed. In the end my feelings about my first boyfriend sweater settled on "meh," and that's the closest thing to a positive feeling I've had about it. It ended up saggy and oversized. But on the plus side I learned a lot from this particular project. I learned how to do saddle shoulders and a shawl collar. I learned I didn't pick the best way to make the pockets. I learned I have a lot to learn, and I'm still pretty new to knitting. I learned to slow down and think through parts of a pattern I don't understand.

I hope you've never made something you're unhappy with.  But if you have, this is the place to rant about it. Post an image link to your not-so-loved project and commiserate! Why didn't it turn out as you imagined? Did you learn anything new from your "meh" project? What would you have done differently? I would have knit my boyfriend a basic raglan pullover instead of a more complicated cardigan, but hindsight is 20/20.  The good news out of all of this is he actually likes his sweater. I'm still not convinced he has a good sweater.