I've been knitting for four and a half years now. I've taken on all variety of projects. I've attempted challenging lace patterns and cables. I've done patterns that require math and calculations for custom fitting. With all of that, it's shocking to some that I haven't yet embarked on one of the most logical knit creations, a sweater.
Well, I suppose that isn't true. I've made baby sweaters for each of my boys, the two children born after I learned to knit. They were quick, easy projects. They were simple, not requiring any complicated pattern work or anything like that. Each was a simple formula, two fronts, a back, and maybe a hood or a collar. They weren't terribly challenging projects. Each could have been thrown together in a day of dedicated work, but this isn't anything like tackling a full-on adult sweater. These were on par with making any other simple projects. I don't consider making a baby sweater to be making a "real" sweater. They're simple, quick, and incredibly useful.
Don't get me wrong, it's not that I don't like sweaters. I love them. I wear them all the time. At one point I had quite a stock of them so I could grab one and go. There was always one in the car, in case of emergencies. There was generally one sitting on the chair I would knit in, just in case I felt chilled. One was always draped next to the bed for easy access in the mornings. They were stuffed everywhere because you never know when you might want to grab a little something to throw on.
Here's the issue, sweaters require this thing called "commitment". Making a sweater requires hours of work and multiple balls of yarn. Yes, I've made projects that require multiple balls of yarn, but multiple generally means two, maybe three if I'm really ambitious. In some cases, those two or three balls are for different colors, so I hardly use much out of any. When talking about a project that requires hours of work and possibly as many as nine or ten balls of yarn, I get scared away. Will I have time for that kind of a commitment? Can I really dedicate as much time as a sweater really deserves? The justification follows with telling myself I'm a poor girl and can't possibly afford that many balls of yarn at one time. Besides, there are so few sweater patterns that really suit my style. Those that do need to be purchased, and I don't have the money for that, especially those that come from books. What if the sweater pattern is the only one in the book I even like?
Of course, all of those are just excuses. I've seen more sweaters than I can count that I would adore wearing. I would get daily use out of them if I had the chance. With the knitting time required, I could save up for a big project like that. It would be no different than affording a handful of little projects that would require the same knitting time in total. In truth, my excuses are about as thin as the paper my patterns are printed on and wouldn't stand up to any kind of serious abuse. My children could shred them in seconds!
The real reason, the deep, underlying fear, is that I would never be able to complete a sweater. Sure, I would start off fine, completely dedicated. I would choose a pattern I loved, a yarn I adored. Things would go well, for a while. That's when the trouble would begin. It would start with something little. I'd decide to take a break because I had made so much progress, and, of course, I wouldn't want to burn out on it. I would pick up something little to fill the time, then get back to it later. Knowing how I am, I would forget about it, then find it three projects later, deciding with determination that it needed to be done. By this point, Christmas would be creeping up and I wouldn't want to be unprepared! I would dive into my Christmas knitting, having no time for the sweater. With the way babies have been in my life as of late (everyone's having one, it's got to be a trend), I'd probably have some baby shower gift to throw together at some point in all of that. Before I know it, I'd be so lost in other things that needed to get done, and the sweater can always wait. It's not like I needed it right that second or anything, right? I would then put it off for this pair of socks I had to have, of which I would probably only knit the first. Then I would clearly need to make new shorties for my youngest as it would be going into summer and too hot for longies or layers. After that, I would finally find the first sock and have to knit it up so I could wear the socks come winter. Not to mention the undoubted need for socks, mittens, and hats for my children! By the time I finally came back to the sweater, my size will have changed or I will have fallen out of love with the pattern. I would likely frog it all and start again with another sweater I was convinced the yarn was just perfect for, starting the whole process again.
So, you see, it's not that I don't love sweaters. I do. I will gladly accept the gift of beautiful hand-knit sweaters in luscious yarns any day! I simply don't have the dedication to knit a whole sweater. To even attempt it would be a crime against yarn-kind.
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