Knitting on Vacation

Ever since I finished the Lopi sweater a little over a year ago, I knew that the finishing was somewhat lacking. The neck kept stretching and even making the sweater droop off my shoulder occasionally, the button band was too long, and I didn't even do a very good job of sewing on the buttons (I actually lost one, because I was too lazy to sew it on properly when I noticed it was giving up the will to stay attached to the sweater). Every time I wore The Lopi I kept telling myself that I had to fix it. But I am a master procrastinator. So I kept wearing it the way it was, with all its faults and barely hanging on buttons.

Now, I have to tell you that there is something positively magical about a well finished piece of knitting. I've always known this. I don't know about you, but when I have a masterfully finished sweater I want to wear it all the time. I avoid washing it because the time it takes to dry takes away from wearing it.

Now the catch: I don't enjoy finishing. I find it sometimes takes almost as long to finish a sweater (especially one with colour work) as it does to knit all the pieces in the first place. It's time consuming and tedious. Fussy. Of course I wasn't interested in doing it twice on one sweater. But I sucked it up and started ripping. Nothing like a threat of a cold front moving in to inspire. You have to understand that the first two and a half weeks in Poland were positively balmy compared to home, with temperatures rarely dipping below zero degrees C, and no snow. So there I sat one evening after roaming around the city all day with nothing to fill the hours before bed. The weatherman was predicting gloom and doom for the following day due to an impending snow storm (while the skiers celebrated). It was definitely one of those "nothing better to do so I might as well rip apart a sweater" moments. A snail could have made two trip to my suitcase and back that it took me, such was my enthusiasm for this task. But dare I say it? As with all things we put off doing, or in my case re-doing, getting it over and done with and enjoying the fruits of our labour is certainly liberating. Aside from the still missing button (that I am convinced is hiding around the house somewhere) the Lopi sweater is finally perfect (which begged the question why I put off fixing it for so long in the first place, but let's not go there). The neck band stays around my neck just so, the button band doesn't stretch half-way to my knees anymore and the buttons are finally secured well enough that I know they wouldn't spontaneously be jumping off my lovely sweater. I would be lying if I claimed all this effort didn't require wine and liquor fortification, but there you have it. We all have our crutches.