Blue Sky Blobigan

I struggle with an internal dilemma when it comes to rules and regulations. For as long as I can remember, I have disliked authority and rules just for the sake of authority and rules, yet, I am the first one shrieking about driving and talking on a mobile phone when some dimwit nearly plows into me because s/he is having a conversation about Fantasy Football or a French Manicure rather than paying attention to the damned road!

When it comes to knitting, I use patterns because someone else has taken the time to figure it all out (Thank you!)and spoon feed me the information. I do not require row by row instructions, work as set until piece measures 9" is clear enough -- even for me.

My biggest knitting pattern pet peeve is the failure to address the issues of fit and ease. Last summer, I knit a Teva Durham Loop-d-Loop pattern for a 20" chest, and I trusted the sizing because the pattern discussed the fit and stretch of the garment. Would that Blue Sky Alpaca have taken one small paragraph to suggest sizing to the knitter. That one paragraph would have saved me hours and irritation.

I might have contributed to the blobby, floppy state of the Blue Sky Cropped Cardigan with my gauge. I knit a gauge swatch on #11 US needles, which was too loose. I went down to a #10.5 US and cast on without doing another gauge swatch -- a big mistake, I think.

As Poirot was working out the mystery of who killed Mr. Shaitana, I was ripping out the Cropped Cardigan. I reclaimed the yarn, KnitUSA, for the trash bin later use. This is the yarn I used on the aborted vintage shrug, so it is beginning to look a bit long in the tooth. Honestly, I don't know if either of us has it in us for a third go.

It is a bit too much like a bad second date with a boy that you want to like: Great qualities, but the "spark" is not there.