The Mystery Sweater Revealed.

So what's the big mystery about The Mystery Sweater?

The mystery is this: it's been so long since I started the thing, I barely remember what it's supposed to look like when it's finished.

I think this project began in the late summer of 2005. The sweater is actually called Magnolia, a Kim Hargreaves pattern from a Rowan book. When I started the sweater, I made a photocopy of the pattern to stick in my bag... and then promptly lost the original pattern book. There were a lot of starts and stops, a lot of do-overs, and a long-ish wait when I, in perfect Accidental Knitter form, ran out of yarn and had to pray that Dori found me some more. She did find me more yarn, but by that time it was Spring, and this is a Winter project. So I put it aside, and now it's time to finish it already.

So as of Sunday night, the pieces were all knit, and I just have to sew it together. Sounds promising, right? Well, this is where things get... not so simple. When I pulled out the front and back of the sweater, I realized that I no longer remember which side is which - they look identical. It took me a few minutes to remember which size I chose to knit it in - was it the Small? Maybe the Medium, since this project was post-pregnancy... ? The turtleneck collar, which is knit seperately with size 8 needles and sewn on, was found in my knitting bag with size 10 needles attached to it. I don't remember having gauge issues with this pattern... or did I... ? And speaking of that turtleneck collar, I knit and unknit that thing a dozen times, and it just looks... wrong. If only I had a picture of the sweater to see what this is supposed to look like... but oh yeah, I lost the pattern book. Where the heck is it, anyway... ?

Now what? I really want to finish it - it has the potential to be very beautiful and very well chosen for my particular body type (think 13 year-old boy). It's so close to being completed that I can't not finish it. And I can't possibly move on to the other projects waiting in the queue until this one is deemed a FO. So I've decided to soldier on without finishing instructions: I'll figure out front from back and sew everything up except the turtleneck - that will most definitely be my final test of patience and intuitive knitting.

I'll post pictures of The Mystery Sweater soon. Writing about it psyched me out too much to actually start sewing it up right now... I'm gonna watch Knitty Gritty instead.