On Time

Perhaps talking about a 2010 knit isn't the best way to start my 2011 blog year, but since I left you with unfinished Christmas knitting, I thought you would be wondering. Did Peter's sweater get finished on time?

Yes! And no! The final days of knitting before Christmas went like this. Peter wanted a 24 inch long sweater. Headed for that length, I stopped into the fabric store on the 21st and purchased a 24 inch zipper. Knitting that evening, it dawned on me that this sweater , Avast, has a stand up collar. The type where the zipper goes to the top of the collar. Dang. A 24 inch sweater plus a two inch collar requires a 26 inch zipper. At least that what my addled, Christmas-deadline brain said.

And that's the length I exchanged my 24 inch zipper for on the 23rd. That evening, I finished the facings - a nice taupe colour to contrast with the grey, laid out the sweater and measured again. 24 inches right to the top of the collar. Of course! The front neck is lower than the back neck. That meant that on Christmas Eve, I was back at the fabric store exchanging the zipper I had exchanged the day before.

With confusion like that happening, I decided not to weave in the ends or put in the zipper before I gave the sweater to Peter on Christmas Day. If it didn't fit or pass the' like' test, ripping back at that stage would only be disappointing. As opposed to disappointing and difficult, if the sweater didn't fit or pass the 'like' test.

I shouldn't have worried. Peter had chosen the yarn. Peter had chosen the pattern and Peter had given me the measurements of his favourite sweater. It fit! He liked it. A lot! I wove in the ends and sewed in the zipper by the 26th and gave it to him at the family get together on the 27th. He wore it all that day and all the next. That's a successful sweater.