The sweater curse

Knitter or non-knitter, you have probably heard about the sweater curse…

Source: Web

If you haven’t, make yourself comfortable and listen. Once upon a time there was a knitter. Needless to say, she loved to knit. But she also loved her boyfriend who, for his part, couldn’t tell a knitting needle from a crochet hook, or so they say. Anyway, the lady in question decided to make her love a gift of love, that is, to knit her sweetheart a sweater. Day and night she worked, and soon (or maybe not so soon) the gift was finished. So she took it and she wrapped it nicely and tied it with a cute little bow and gave it to her darling… The story doesn’t tell if the guy liked the present (why not after all?) but – oh woe! – the ungrateful lad soon quit his knitting lass, and for no obvious reason. And this is how the legend of a boyfriend sweater curse was born. And this is why superstitious knitters abstain from knitting sweaters for their men…

But not all, mind you (Google “fisherman’s sweater” and you’ll see). Still, knitting for a man can be trickier than many people think. But I digress. I told you this tale as an introduction to the story of my very own sweater curse. It has nothing to do with men though: it’s only between me and them nasty sweaters… I’ll tell you a secret: in spite of having my hands busy all the time knitting this or that, for about seven year now, I have never knitted myself a full-blown sweater. Several sleeveless vests, yes, but never a sweater. I have even designed a sweater – one with short sleeves… But all the hand-made sweaters in my wardrobe have been knitted by my mum. How can that be? Well, there is a reason, or, rather, reasons: my height and arm length is one, my love of thin yarn is another – and when combined, they turn the fun that knitting is supposed to be into toil. In fact, I have two UFO’s (Unfinished Objects) right now: a sock yarn sweater with an excruciatingly slow-advancing pattern and a sleeveless vest combining honeycomb and colourwork: I’m not telling you how long they’ve been around! But! This year I decided to break the curse and knit myself a sweater, sleeves and all. And – lo and behold! – we’re making a progress! But the night is over, oh my Sultan, and I’ll have to keep the end of this story for the next time!

Good knitting, everyone!