I'm still under a pile of to-do lists *and* I have 605 emails in my inbox to go through *and* I have responded to NOT ONE of the sweet comments from my last post ... but instead of feeling overwhelmed and putting blogging off until I feel like things are on an even keel, I'm just going to jump right back in.

This weekend I finished up my first knitted sweater.  It's awful.

First, I want to say, "I don't hate my body."  That said, my hip measurement is 6" bigger than my bust measurement.  Luckily, I have a waist, so if I wear tight clothes that hug my waist I can create the illusion that I'm hourglass-shaped.  If my top goes right from my shoulders to my hips without defining my  waist in any way, I become a pyramid; a pointy head on top and wide hips at the base. And that's what happens with this sweater.

It's like an instant 15 pound weight gain.  Argh.  The sweater is too big, which is the first problem.  I knew my gauge was a little bigger than the one in the pattern, so I made the small instead of the medium.  It was kinda hard to guess about finished size, though, because you only know the actual sweater width at the end when you on-purpose cause the runs.

The other problem is I don't think this is a good garment shape for me, which is the reason I'm not going to try again to make this in a smaller size.  Looking at my wardrobe, all my favorite shirts have wide scoop necks, deep v-necks, or tight crew necks.  The wide, almost boat-neck opening doesn't work well with my sloping shoulders.

There are plenty of people that look awesome in this sweater (evidence: ravelry accidentally on purpose sweater page, so don't let my failure influence you if you're planning on trying this out.

I modded the neck in an effort to mitigate the boat neck issue, which is why my runs disappear.  I re-knit this bit several times to try and create a nicer opening.  I did a good job of tightening up the neck line and fashioning some straps, but I just couldn't save the sweater.

I *totally* know how to knit and purl now, though.  Which is awesome!  I've adopted Continental knitting with the help of this amazing knitting video.