Remember Louisa? I shrank her.
I was devastated and incredibly angry at myself as well because I knew what I had done practically instantly, and I. KNEW. BETTER.
Too Late.
I loved this sweater so much I wore it four or five times in the first week after I finished it. I loved it so much I could have just never taken it off, except that, well, I'm not that kind of person. After a week, it needed washing, and I washed it with another sweater that was very close to the same color. I knew the other sweater would need a trip through the spin cycle before laying it flat to dry because it is a heavy rayon and it gets rather large and unwieldy when wet. But I planned to just roll Louisa up in a towel while I transfered the other sweater to the washing machine and spin it out. Then I would lay out both sweaters on my blocking board to dry.
Except that G and I had a big fight that evening. Not a fight about anything important; I don't even remember the cause. It was the kind of acrimonious fight couples have over the most insignificant things, the kind of fight that was probably actually a reflection of individual stresses each of us were undergoing separately that just happened to boil over at that same moment. But still, it was a fight, and I was not thinking clearly.
I am sure you know what happened. I threw both sweaters in the washing machine, and when they came out I was surprised to see a very small Louisa. I stretched and pulled and stretched some more and was practically in tears when I went to bed. I knew I would knit another but it killed me.
The next morning Louisa was still pretty damp so I pulled out the iron and steamed her and stretched her a little more. She was still small, but she seemed like she might just fit. Indeed she did. She is a little smaller, a little more fitted, and about 2 inches shorter. The fabric is a little tighter but by no means heavy or thick. It seemed that she fit well enough that I might love her again someday, perhaps next fall, and I was about to put her away. I was still too wrapped up in mourning the sweater she had been to see the beauty of the sweater she had become.
But G thought she looked nice. And I took her to my LYS, where everyone there thought she looked nice too, and since a few days had passed, I could see that they were right. My eyes were no longer blinded by frustration.
Once again I have been wearing Louisa. I must admit I am very happy with the way she has turned out. Happy enough that I might knit another one in the same yarn and intentionally shrink it as well; or not.
I realize, that she actually looks better, the slight fulling of the yarn has firmed up the shaping of the sweater so it is a little more defined, and this length, two inches shorter is more versatile and can be worn with a wider variety of bottoms, such as the wide leg pants here, which are 7 or 8 year old Banana Republic trousers that are now almost too large, they keep sliding down on my hips.
The only problems with this sweater are that the sleeves also shrank in length and the shoulders are now just a tad too narrow.
The sleeve length may not even be a problem as I tend to fold or push up most sleeves to better facilitate the wearing of bracelets. The new sleeve length actually hits at about the top of the cuffs shown in the photo, and I pushed them up a wee bit to show a little skin between cuff and sweater. Apparently I tend to prefer my sleeves, if they are full length, either very narrow and close fitting, or fairly dramatic which would of course forestall the wearing of bracelets all together.
But sleeve length and shoulder width are easy fixes which can easily be accommodated in my next version of this sweater. There will be a next version. I have already have a vision of it in my head and have already purchased the yarn. But that is a project for the next transitional season. Now I am feeling the need for some summer knitting.
