After about a week of knitting, I am done with the first sleeve of the Big Lebowski Sweater. I was really nervous about it because I had to shape the sleeve throughout all color patterns. However, there were enough stitches for me to place stitch markers at the beginning and end of the fair isle pattern, so I could think about the color and the shaping at different times.

As I was finishing the shaping today, I nearly made a huge mistake. I bound off too many stitches with only 15 rows to go! So I undid two rows. I was really nervous about dropping stitches or twisting them, but I could untwist them afterwards. I was really afraid of taking out the needle and putting it back in, but it worked and went really well. I think that it went so well partly because the wool is so "sticky" and retains its shape well.

Today I also talked to a knitting teacher and she will help me to finish the sweater next Saturday. That's 6 days away to knit one more sleeve and do the two facings, not to mention weaving in the ends and buying a zipper. Lots to do, but I must admit that I'm excited to work on a new project. I think that's why many sweaters go unfinished: one gets bored. This project should have taken me 6 months, but I will finish it in 3.

Happy knitting!