The Skeleton in the Garage

Once upon a time, I found a pattern in Vogue Knitting. It was in the Winter 1990/1991 issue. It was cute. It had little cable darts in just the right places to make your waist look like a waist. It had a nice collar, and it was knit in a comfy-looking tweedy wool blend yarn. I had only knit one other sweater before this one, but I was feeling relatively confident.

But by the time I got around to seriously wanting to knit it, circa 1993, the Filatura De Crosa yarn it called for (Ponza), was no longer available. So, I listened to the nice lady at the yarn store who told me that this would be an acceptable substitute. Maybe according to the gauge.

It was a variegated yarn, which, I didn't realize until I started knitting this thing, should never be used to knit a pieced cardigan. All the color changes just intersect in totally bizzare ways. A friend suggested knitting with alternating balls of yarn, but that didn't really help much.

But, I pressed on and continued, despite my concerns. I paid $80 for that yarn, I wasn't going to give up. So, I finished it. I sewed the pieces together. And then, I tried it on, and I hated it. I actually liked the look of the inside fabric better (it was reverse stockinette). I tried to feel good about it. I even bought nice buttons. But nothing worked. It still sucked.

So, it went into a box in the garage, along with all my ski stuff, because I gave up on that about the same time. Occasionally, when my friends would start trading worst sweater stories, I wondered where it had gone.

Fast forward 12 years. My 9- and 5-year old kids have decided they like skiing. So I went digging through the garage for my old ski stuff, and there it was. In the bottom of the box. Hidden away where nobody would ever see it.

It needs to be delt with. Its getting unravelled soon. What will become of the yarn is up for grabs. I'm thinking of either doing a top-down raglan pullover in the round, or maybe weaving it into a couple of scarves, which I could probably sell for at least what I paid for the yarn.

Any ideas?