Like writing a Lit paper*

So it's Wednesday, and the bolero still isn't done. If something huge had come up and I simply hadn't been able to work on it, I might have an excuse. Instead, I'm pretty sure it has taken me the same number of hours to seam/finish it as it took to knit.

This has led to some thinking.

First, I was a little embarrassed the other day to realize that I hadn't the foggiest idea what was the best way to seam the shoulders. Worse, I didn't realize that fearing the shoulders was silly. Fearing setting in the sleeves, now that makes sense...but fearing the 10 shoulder stitches? Just silly.

Then, I thought about why seaming was such a big shocker for me. I've knit a few things over the last few years, and thought I was pretty competent. But looking back over what I've made I see socks, some things done in the round, and more than a few squares/rectangles. Yes, I've knit two sweaters (only one blogged of here), but one was entirely in the round. The other is still sitting in pieces in UFO basket, waiting for the finishing elves to sew the shoulders to the body. Obviously, there's a problem here.

While I've thought I've been learning lots of techniques, I've been learning them in my safe little world. I learned cables while making squares for Warm Up America, and, now that I think of it, Fair Isle the same way. Sure, I'm learning new things, but I can't shake the feeling that by never having seamed a sweater I somehow had failed to become a "real" knitter without even realizing it. (I am not the only one, it seems)

Several hours have passed since I wrote the bulk of this post, and I've had some time to think on this. No new insights have gripped me, except the desire for more sweater experience. Sweaters for me would be silly right now--I am not knitting a watermelon-sized space into a pattern--but I have the perfect template coming up: a wee baby.

I hope to post pics of the bolero tomorrow, after casting off when I get home from work tonight. I hope to do a light blocking, and maybe have it in the mail before the babe (born at 6:30 ish today) graduates college.

* One of the pieces of advice my sister gave me when is started college was to leave Lit papers for last in the queue of homework. I didn't understand this at first, especially since so much work goes into one, but I finally got it: Lit papers will suck up exactly as much time as you have set aside for all your homework. I think seaming is not so far removed from that.