A Sweater Story

So my Harvest Moon cardigan is more than a sweater, it's a creation that has happened over many years of my life! Don't get me wrong I didn't knit on it for any longer than it normally takes to knit a sweater. I just managed to stretch the whole process out.
Timeline:
On December 22nd of 2011 I saved the pattern because I thought it was cute. At that time I was working at the League of Kansas Municipalities and I know for a fact I printed the pattern at work. It was on really nice paper, Lawyer paper, not gov't office paper. :-)  I was two months pregnant with Alex and I'm sure I thought it would be a lovely sweater for that winter since it doesn't have buttons up the front. HA! Such a dreamer I am!
Reminder, 12/2011 is just when I saved the pattern. I didn't actually purchase it until June 2012!

So I bought the pattern in 2012, one month  before I had my second son. This makes sense because adding children to a family always makes for more knitting time, right? But wait a sec, in April of 2012 I decided that I wasn't just going to knit this sucker, I was going to spin the fiber to make the yarn to knit it! It must have been those pregnancy hormones that made me think crazy things like that.

So in April of 2012 I buy 5 bumps of Hello Yarn Shetland fiber in the Bristling color way. I would like to educate you on how it works to buy Hello Yarn fiber.
You join a group of people who all desperately want this fiber on the internet, then when someone who has it puts it up for sale all the people who want it try to be the first person to e-mail to say they will buy it. It's pretty crazy and it is worth it because the fiber is THAT GOOD.
So to procure five bumps I believe I got two from someone selling theirs, then I went to my internet group and begged and pleaded until two other people sold me some just to shut me up! I promised them I would spin it into yarn and knit it into a sweater and love my sweater forever! Good thing I never promised when that would all be done!

Ok, have fiber, now I must spin it into yarn. I'm not sure when I started spinning my lovely fiber but I do know the yarn was not done until Sept. 29, 2014! OVER TWO YEARS LATER. My son I was pregnant with when I started this project is now two, I had a different job and even lived in a different house!

At this point you can understand why I laugh when people suggest I knit sweaters because its cheaper or easier than buying them. The fiber alone cost $115, (remember I got the good stuff) and that does not account for my time. Pay heed folks, spinning and knitting sweaters is an addiction. It doesn't make any sense but it feels so good when it's done!

I finally started knitting my Harvest Moon sweater in June of 2015. Again I waited a year to take the next step! After I finally started the knitting the project went quick. I had the goal to have it done to wear to my work's annual conference in October, then to have it done for Thanksgiving in November and finally wanted to have it for Christmas. Turns out it was finished to wear on a Wednesday for work!

So that is the story of this sweater. Four years and one month after I found the pattern I finally have the sweater. I'm no quitter!

Alex and I modeling the sweater I planned to wear pregnant with him!