In Which the Pirate Comes to a Realization.

Once upon a time, I had two wool sweaters – one in solid blue, and one in an all-over colourwork pattern. In the style of their time, they were rather boxy and unfitted, but they were warm and wool, and I wore them to do things like shovel the driveway or go ice skating. One sweater was lost to the washing machine (“But I washed it on the gentle cycle!” he said. “It hasn’t shrunk that much, maybe you could– oh.”) and the other has worn thin.

I went looking in the stores and online for new wool sweaters, and quickly found that the only place to get an affordable, 100% wool sweater is… in the men’s department, and those wouldn’t be too flattering on me. Sweaters that are sold in lady-shapes are cotton or cotton-blend or altogether synthetic, or they’re expensive and cashmere. They’re not meant for shoveling snow or ice skating at all.

Since I can’t buy what I want in a store, I’ve come to the conclusion that in order to get new wool sweaters I’m going to have to knit them myself. I’m not sure if I really want to knit a sweater, and I’m also not sure if that’s my perfectionism talking (Ack, a fitted garment? That’s an awful lot of time and yarn for something I might get wrong…) or my lack of desire to take on another larger, non-portable project while I’ve got that lace stole on the needles.