Ghoul in the Attic

I said that I had major finishing mojo and I mean it. I got that first sleeve on the Weasley sweater done and immediately cast on for the second when it hit me. The burning desire to finish this sweater.


The second sleeve wasn't all that hard even with the willy-nilly increases. This might have something to do with the fact that I am not a total perfectionist or the fact that the instructions, although they seemed completely insane where actually, for the most part, sane. Directions that say, [Cast on 50 for sleeve make edging and then suddenly increase to 60 stitches. Afterwards increasing at the end of each row every three rows until you reach 100 stitches and knit until proper length.] Seem to be totally outrageous, especially when the front half of your sweater is 100 stitches. It just seems a little wide for an arm is all I'm saying. Turns out they were right. (Imagine that!) Because I was knitting a slightly larger size, i.e. I was tweaking the pattern here and there, I actually increased to a total of 104 stitches.

I had this kind of thought process the entire duration of this sweater:

Me: There's no way this pattern can be right! That would make [insert current item front, back, sleeve, neckline, should shaping, etc. here] HUGE! Let me just calculate that out on my gauge for a moment. *bends over paper pencil in hand*

Pattern: Trust me. Everything will be okay just follow the pattern. *pats TURBOchic's back*

Me: No wait. That can't be right. *gets up to consult The Interwebs of Knowledge*

Pattern: *callings out from another room* I'm telling you. I work out fine.

Me: *sitting back down* The Interweb in its infinite power says this...

Pattern: Never believe everything you read, unless of course it's in my pattern.

Me: Shut up pattern. You're only one page long. There's no way you can be right.

Pattern: Okay, but don't say I didn't tell you so.

Me: *hours later after scouring the Interwebs and manipulating tons of numbers* Okay, for some reason these are all very similar to the pattern's information. I'll just knit the pattern with these little tweaks and make the Hubby try it on as I go.

Pattern: *good to his word doesn't say I told you so and is silent*

Me: *trying on Hubby and asking a million questions about fit* I can't believe this is actually working. Following directions....who'da thunk it?

Pattern: *remains silent*

Me: *looking at pattern* At least I was right that I'd need more yarn.



STATS
Patten and Yarn: Both from this company. With 3.5 balls left of the original 12, I am glad I ordered the small and the large kits. You can't even tell I got two totally different dye lots because I purchase them well over two years apart, unless The New Lanark yarn shop is growing maroon and yellow sheep. I think they'd have the market cornered if they did.
Needles: I didn't bother with changing needle sizes between the arms and the body as recommended and knit the whole thing on size 6 (4mm) needles.
Mods: The above mods listed, plus all the tweaks I knit in to it along the way. I might have kept track here and there, but frankly I am too lazy to go find them and list them.