Shifty Saga- Part 4
I am happy to say this is the 4th and final post of my Shifty saga. I have successfully knit a Shifty sweater, but I must say I am a little disappointed with how it turned out. It doesn’t surprise me that I am a little let down by the end product. I put so much time and effort and made so many attempts at knitting this sweater that it makes perfect sense in the end it did not live up to my expectations. That is not to say I don’t love the pattern or the yarn that I used, but how could anything live up to my expectations at this point. I do plan to knit another Shifty using different colors that I think will work out much better and are 100% me. After knitting this one I have a much better sense of the constructions of the sweater and how to pick yarn more appropriately. I think sometimes it just takes a practice round before getting it right. Sadly, a practice round meant knitting the entire sweater, as clearly swatching and just knitting yokes was not enough this go-round.
It was a great lesson in managing my expectations. Jon tells me this all the time. I am someone who gets very excited and tends to put all my hopes and excitement into one thing, like going on a trip for example. Often times the trip doesn’t turn out exactly how I had hoped it would and I get disappointed. Jon tends to go in with low level expectations and then is happy when things go better than planned. I think it is just the glass half full vs empty. I don’t think it will change how I view the excitement of new project. It may help me have more realistic goals for projects especially when things don’t go according to plan.
Due to all my modifications with this sweater, it turned out to be a little too long and a little too big. It will make a great lounge around the house sweater, but sadly I don’t see myself wearing it out. It just doesn’t fit quite right. I could of course frog back and make some adjustments to make it fit better and maybe in time I will, but for now I am so over this Shifty saga and ready to move on. The colors although beautiful also aren’t exactly what I was hoping for. It is not as blue as I would have hoped in certain places and a little too brown other areas. That is the beauty of the yarn though, each skein is unique, and you never know how each one will knit up. I think looking back I would only have 3 skeins instead of 4. I was going for a fade type look and my third skein just didn’t really go with the rest of the yarns as much as I had hoped it would. Again, this is something I could go back and fix, but like I said before I am over this Shifty Saga and maybe in a few months or years I will go back and make those changes. It really is a beautiful pattern and sweater. It would be a shame to never wear it. All and all this was a great learning experience and thanks to this pattern I have a new obsession with a very expensive but very beautiful yarn.
