Mr. Greenjeans Disaster

For MALABRIGO MARCH on the Ravelry malabrigo junkies board, I took on the challenge to make the Mr. Greenjeans cardie from the Fall 2007 edition of Knitty. Make no mistake: I love this yarn, Malabrigo 'Silky Merino'. I love this sweater: After reviewing hundreds of photos on Ravelry of this sweater finished and on every conceivable body type, I decided to make it. It looks good on EVERYONE.

But it doesn't love me. Not one bit.
After swatching and hitting gauge almost immediately, I started it on March 1, quickly knitting down to the armholes and then moving those stitches onto waste yarn while I finished the body. A few inches later, I had finished the top, and tried it on. Elated that it fit so well, I pressed on to the cables.

Two weeks later, I bound off the bottom and eagerly tried it on. It was no where CLOSE to fitting. The top fits, but the inward pull of the cables is merciless. After a day of shock, a heavy steam blocking was in order. This was my only weapon short of ripping it all back and starting the bottom cables anew. I tried it on. It was still a no-go.

Today, after a week of leaving it folded and resting in my knitting bag, it's going to be frogged. The only option is to redo all the cabling one size up and use a larger needle size as well.

In the meantime, I've been knitting smaller things, most notably Retro Redux Shrug from the book Lace Style. The owner of Yarnorama, Susan, had knit one up for a shop sample, and during spring break the girls and I stopped in Paige to fondle yarn on our way to Houston. Both Liz and Claire tried it on, and it looks adorable. So I moved the project up in my queue, and when Greenjeans turned into a nightmare, I turned to knitting the shrug as a confidence builder to get away from my sweater woes. I'm almost finished with one, in Malabrigo 'Worsted Merino' colorway Water Green. I've started the ribbing for the top and bottom edges. It knit up side-to-side very fast and without incident and the color is lovely.