Gilligan is probably the most challenging sweater I’ve done in quite a while. I started out with using the wrong type of yarn, ripping out and starting over cause I twisted my work when I joined it, starting over cause I just wasn’t paying attention. After consultation with mary I was on the right track with some lovely yarn that was great to use. I encountered many frustrating moments as I attempted to increase in lace, and maintain pattern, interpret instructions that were a bit confusing at times. I wanted to give up on this project many times along with way, but kept with it. I had to ask Mary to hold my hand more than once which she was willing to do, and even shared in my delight when I finished and declared that it FIT. Of course, I became a bit deflated when I blocked the sweater and worried that I had stretched it out of shape and I’d have to re-do my blocking. Fortunately most yarn is very forgiving and you get multiple re-dos. Is this the most perfect sweater, well no, I can see stitches that are not quite as tidy as I’d like, something is a bit off on another part. However, it fits pretty good (this is not a flattering shot!), and above all I stayed the course and completed the project. Here’s where the life lessons comes in-I’ve had some real challenges lately, made mistakes along the way, had to re-start a lot, get advise and encouragement from friends, including a little hand holding along the way. I've tried to equip myself with the tools I need to get the job done (in life) prayer, devotion and surrounding myself with good-vibe people (in knitting) good yarn, needles that won’t cause me to injure myself, stitch markers to help me along the way, row counters, etc. With both Gilligan and life, I can look in the mirror and see the flaws, but also see my successes. I also realize that unlike THIS sweater I’m still a work in progress, and if you look at my queue on ravelry, I’ll never really be finished knitting sweaters, but I hope that most of them will be a little easy on me. oh-and life-you can go a little easy on for a while too. thanks!
