this one's for the books

I have finished a sweater. That I started in a time forgotten. But I have finished it.

Last time I tried to crochet a sweater, Adam was still in diapers, and I couldn't for the life of me figure out the sleeves, even though I tried it several different times, the sleeves always ended up not fitting over the darn shoulders. And Adam was a little guy.

I started a sweater for myself a good year ago. I got to the 'assembly' part, and I put it away in a basket, telling myself that I'd finish it soon. And then I promptly started other projects. Anything that wasn't the assembly of the darn sweater. I finished a mat for the front porch (my first foray into jute), a blanket for Cole, and two 'draft' blankets for my bed (I think I finally have the color scheme I want. Really).

 I finally pulled it out tonight, and decided I'd just take a stab at it. And I had some interesting thoughts as I was going through the steps of 'assembling'. I was avoiding finishing it, because as long as I didn't, it still had the potential of being a good sweater. Once I finished it, it would either be still good or not so good. I don't know if anyone else spends their free time looking at free crochet patterns on line, but the other day when I was browsing, I noticed several patterns that definitely had that 'amateur' look. I want a sweater that I made for myself, but I don't want a sweater that looks like I made it for myself, if that makes sense. But, if I'm gonna learn anything, I have to make more than a few mistakes along the way. There's almost just no way around it.

BTW, the sleeves totally fit. A year down the road, five minutes of consulting experience and that mysterious sense of developing spatial relationships, and I got it.