Not like horse shit

Neckdown Long Hooded Cardigan
by Diane Soucy for Knitting Pure and Simple
Yarn: Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Organic Cotton in Graphite
Needles: Circular 9 (24"), 9 (16"), DPN 9 & 7, tapestry needle
Raveled here

Remember when I said I'd go to the grave knitting this sweater?

I can be so dramatic.

Well, to update you on my grave knitting status, I'm done. I've finished the sweater that ate a field of cotton. And no one (namely me) had to go to the grave to do it.

Score.

I did, however, have to buy *just one more* skein of yarn to finish it up though. Which I did, totally uncharacteristically, right after I finished this post where I said that I wasn't going to order more yarn because "What if I got to the end and DID end up having enough and then suddenly had EXTRA? What then?!"

I told you, I can be very dramatic which is another word for flaky which is another word for neurotic which is another word for Finny When She Knits Big Ass Sweaters.

It's big. It's cozy. It's not for formal occasions.

Anyway, to sum up my feelings about this sweater, Meh+.

Like, it came out according to the photo and it fits like a big sweater and it's not itchy because I used (a lot of) cotton yarn and it didn't take me the 60-75 years I imagined it would back when I was at my most dramatic. Those are all the +s.

On the Meh side, it's sorta big on me even after I decided to roll the dice and run it through the dryer rather than letting it block on my kitchen counter for the foreseeable future. See, even though I knitted the smallest size AND checked my gauge throughout the knitting process (something else totally uncharacteristic for me), the thing is still just rather large.

When I ran it through the dryer I was hoping that that the dryer would:

A. Allow the soaked sweater to dry in under a decade

and

B. Shrink it so that the armpits didn't hang so low

Basically, I was hoping for a dryer-induced miracle. Which I did not receive.

However, the dryer did do wonders for drying it (imagine that) and so I was able to wear it the next day when I went back to the California Academy of Sciences for the third time since it opened this fall. Basically, I'm stalking the new Planetarium, and now you know something else weird about me.

Now, I will definitely wear this sweater because I do like the length, fabric and especially the hood (as you may have gathered from the photos, I am fond of the hoods on my sweaters), but it's not exactly the casually chic sweater coat I'd imagined it would be, mostly because the armpits hang low which I find annoying and which lends to a less flattering fit.

The good news is that the Ugly Librarian Sweater now has a darker hued and hooded cousin, so when it's in the wash (as it will be more often now that I've seen how dirty I let it get), I'll have another sweater to wear when we have a Spare the Air day and can't use the fireplace.

I'm sure Bubba will also be happy to know that, at no time in the winter cold months, will I be without a full-length fugly sweater hiding my lady shapes.

Now witness the fire power of this fully operational hooded sweater.

Bubba calls me the Emperor when I wear this sweater which I do not take as a compliment due to the Emperor's ugliness.