My Rollercoaster Ride to Closure

Do you remember this item that I was knitting?....the something yet to come

Well it transformed into this................

 

 

 

And then finally this...............

 

 

The ride was anything but smooth from the start! But I am a bulldog with a grip, tenacious, a die-hard!!! I don't like to give up easily.

 

I knitted the lovely border on the two sleeves incorrectly, as mentioned earlier here. Then it took all of almost three months to sew the garment together. But I knew from the start that the colour would have to go! I had originally knitted a snood with this wishy-washy beige 100% cotton -what possessed me to choose this colour after all these years, I don't know! It is without a doubt not my colour especially so close to my face. So I painstakingly unpicked it, as I was determined not to end up with bits and pieces. I then purchased more of the same cotton and proceeded to use this pattern as my basis, but in a more flattering longer version and three-quarter sleeves.

 

 

 

The sewing together of the individual pieces also didn't happen without any hitches. I balked at picking up all of 276 stitches around the neck and side edges, so proceeded to crochet a border. It looked hideous, and at that point I asked myself some serious questions...did I intent to sell out in a half-ditched attempt at the last hour in order to achieve closure?! Absolutely not! So I unraveled the border and five hours later (supper was sandwiched somewhere inbetween) I had a border that I could be proud of.

The grand finale was to change the colour which I had intended from the start. I contemplated the lovely Carolyn's idea to dye my garment in coffee, but unlike Carolyn we like the good stuff, and I couldn't stomach the  thought of wasting, if it can be termed as wasting, good coffee as a dyeing agent. Also I sifted through my various cardigans and noted quite a few shades of brown, coffee  and mocha. I only have one green cardigan, a lime green, so headed off to the chemist in search of a green cold-water dye.

I swallowed the lump in my throat and on Christmas Eve plunged my newly created cardigan into a bath of olive green dye. I seem to like doing the oddest things on Christmas Eve like making apricot jam because I had bought apricots at their lowest price. I recall having done this for the last three Christmas Eves past, so took a swing at hand-dyeing this year. I was quite thrilled when I saw the cotton grab the green dye and lose it's dull colour! But that's not the end of the story! It truly was an olive green........ mixed with blotches of brown. My heart sank into my feet! I had followed the instructions meticulously as Carolyn had advised caution, as ruining a hand-knitted garment in the twinkling of an eye could happen. My first thought was, well I will just knit another one in the colour that I wanted it from the start, and to hell with dyeing anything ever again. But I said I was tenacious, so I plunged the cardigan into water with fabric detergent and waited with baited breathe for it to dry. Nope...better, but still blotches. Again.....and again....and a final fourth wash. Well there are no more brown blotches, but the colour has now changed to a faded mint colour. I can live with that! And I have closure......despite all the odds I finally acheived something that I will be proud to wear!