The Blue Sweater

I started a "Zimmermania" class this year. It is based all around the patterns of the greatest knitter of all time, Elizabeth Zimmermann. The first night, I asked everyone to rate which projects they wanted to do. To my surprise, one of the top three was a yoked sweater. I have to confess that this made me happy. I had been wanting to do one of those myself.

I have 25 people in the class. Think about the pressure of making sure that 25 people have a good sweater. Think of what would happen if the project turned into a train wreck. Think of 25 angry people all in one room, all of whom carry pointy sticks. I decided that I'd better hunker down and make the whole sweater first, to be sure it worked.

I was motivated.

So for the past month, I have been knitting on the Blue Sweater every day, and I have taken it with me everywhere I have gone. This included Disney. I worked on it on the way down to Florida. After we got there, I was grateful for every hour-long wait in line. Between those waits and my "Yarn Buddy" knitting pouch, I was able to work on that Blue Sweater a lot:

(Isn't it amazing that Security didn't haul me away with my threatening t-shirt? Do you see what I mean about angry knitters and their pointy sticks?)

I worked on the Blue Sweater as we drove home. And when we got home, I kept knitting. I had a week left to do the yoke.

Kevin was patient as I ignored him and everything around me. His quilter-mother operates exactly like this, and so he understands the culture of the insane project with a deadline.

I knitted and knitted. Finally, this morning, the morning of the class, the Blue Sweater was finished. And, I have to say, all that work was worth it:


I can't wait to share it with 25 people. I think we're going to have some good sweaters in that class.