Change?

One thing is always constant, and that is change.  It may seem like a contradictory statement, but it is a definite truth.

This is a recent picture of my formal living room.  A few things have changed over the years, but for the most part, everything has been the same for the past 30+ years.  It takes me some time to decide just how I want a room decorated, adding a piece here or there, as I find the things I really love.  I'm not much for following the trends, as I prefer timeless pieces, that I plan to keep for many, many years.  

The floral couch was a hand-me-down from my parents, and they found it in a chicken coup when they were first married (back in the 1950's).  It has been re-upholstered several times, even twice by me, but I still love it and plan to keep it for many more years.  Curious, that it was stuffed with horse hair and originally had 3 cushions, rather than the current 2.  The tables were an early marriage purchase that I had to save and save for, and even though my daughter took a hammer to them, when she was 2 years old, I continue to polish and care for them.  The coffee table does have a new top, which I had custom built a few years ago. I have replaced 2 chairs, but only because they completely fell apart. I replaced them with matching antique chairs, found in a re-sale shop.  The wood floors and the purple loveseat are a recent edition, but the only new additions in the past 10 years.

I'm afraid I'm not the same when it comes to knitting.  My knitting abilities are continually improving, and I learn little tricks and hints from other expert knitters.  The downside to this improvement, is the fact that I start to hate wearing my older sweaters, as I produce better ones.  The new sweaters have improved technique, and fit and drape better than the old ones.  Good yarn is far too expensive for me to allow sweaters to just lay around,  waiting for moths to get to them.  I've been known to completely rip a sweater apart, and to re-knit the yarn into a completely different design.

You may recognize this sweater, completed back in 2016.  It is a custom fit version of Effervescence Cardigan.  [to see all the details, view in a previous post].  I've worn it a lot in the past few years, but have come to hate the buttons.  Even after sewing the buttonholes to make them smaller, the buttons will never stay buttoned.  And, the front buttonband fans out during wearing, causing the front of the cardigan to hang oddly on my body.

Recently, I have learned so much about buttonbands and buttonholes.  This new knowledge has made this sweater completely irritating to wear. So, I cut off the button and neck bands, and re-knit them, using my newly learned techniques.  Complete with new buttons, I love wearing this sweater now.  It was well worth the time and effort to make it wearable again.  

I guess change is not always an irritation, especially when it is your skill that is improving.  I learned these new techniques from Jankee.  You can learn them too, by reading all of her project comments on ravelry.com.  This is a great knitting resource, when you want to learn, without the expense and time of a knitting class.

Sweaters do not have to be completely scrapped and re-knit.  Sometimes, just some simple adjustments can turn a "sweater dud" into a "sweater love".

Keep your knitting skills progressing, by learning from other's mistakes.  Check out all of the projects on ravelry, especially the projects already completed on the project you are about to start.  This can save you countless hours in overcoming errors in the pattern design.  Happy Knitting . . . . .