Doing the hard good thing

Vera - front view
Originally uploaded by snowdenbecker

First things first--Vera is finally ready for prime time! Like Adelaide, she has been tech-edited, and thereby much improved, by the wonderful Hadley (Ravelry: hadleygetscrafty) and some extremely patient test-knitters. So that wasn't too hard for me, and I hope it'll be good for you! This design was originally made for Rowan Calmer, a longtime favorite of mine, and between the chainette construction of the yarn and the ribbing, it's a great stretchy cardigan to wrap up in for autumn (which has FINALLY arrived here in Texas). It's a $3.00 PDF download from Ravelry; the pattern includes charted and written instructions for the leaf-and-vine insets, and it's worked bottom-up with seamless set-in sleeves--practically no finishing required.



Second things second: Today I had to frog out half a sleeve and the entire body of a sweater-in-progress. Everything was the right shape, but it was just too small--the fit wasn't right for the style, and I knew if I went ahead and finished it as an XXS, I'd be so frustrated at not getting it right. So, rip rip rip up past the armpits, wind wind wind the yarn back onto the ball, and start from square one. Maybe one and a half--the shoulders and upper back were fine, and I had a lovely swatch to start with...

This is only the latest in a string reminders about something my husband says: Anyone can do the easy thing. Most people can do the easy good thing, and everyone does the easy bad thing more often than they should...but sometimes you have to do the hard good thing. I've done a couple of projects now where doing the hard good thing--ripping out hours worth of work--became inevitable. I wouldn't say it's gotten easier, but I've never once regretted it, or felt it wasn't worth the extra effort in the end. And hey, any excuse to put off doing more work on my dissertation!