less than 100 stitches from the finish line

[cimorene]

I'm currently trying to finish knitting a hooded, zip-front cabled sweater cardigan for myself that I originally bought the yarn for in 2019. I took forever to finish it the first time, after stopping multiple times in the process, then ultimately discovered a year ago that it was too small. I eventually unraveled the whole thing and started over with a different pattern...

And yesterday I ran out of yarn!!!

Four rows from the bind-off of the SECOND patch pocket, a patch pocket that's only as wide as the palm of a hand and 22 stitches, so when I ran out I was actually in the edge ribbing. I tried to make it up by snipping off long tails and joining them up, but it didn't work. Now I'm trying to just make both pockets a few rows shorter.

A hooded, zippered sweater hoodie has been a major gap in my wardrobe since I started having sweaters. Pockets aren't that common a feature of these, but the ideal hoodie jacket obviously has to have pockets.

I have one buttoned and three zippered sweater jackets in worsted to bulky weight that I wear in heavy rotation through the cold months, but none of them have hoods or pockets, so none of them is even close to perfect. All of them also have little flaws that keep them from being satisfyingly complete garments, things I would do over if I could but aren't practical because they would require more yarn: sleeves slightly too short, collars slightly too narrow, one that's an couple of inches too small at the hip.

It would perhaps be rather boring, but these little flaws really gnaw away at me until I start just wanting to remake all the sweaters I already have. (Okay, not all the sweaters; just all the sweater jackets.)

Comments

[pensnest]

Augh, how frustrating. Could you do a contrasting band of colour on both pockets, to keep them deep enough?

I have great admiration for anyone who can deal with zips.

[which_chick]

Dang, you almost made it! That's like ... the worst.

[viggorlijah]

You could do inset pockets and make them out of cloth or another complementary weight yarn instead of patch pockets.

Or accept it is cursed yarn! An exorcism may be required

[cimorene]

Tragically, that would look like shit. It's a bit late to add more contrast color elsewhere to presumably make up for it too, although in this particular pattern I don't think there's any way it could look good.

[cimorene]

I KNOW. I've redone the pockets now and they're both hilariously tiny. Like my four fingers WILL go into them, but my whole hand won't. It's still better than no pockets though.

[cimorene]

I did think about that, but my fear of unraveling the whole entire thing when I snipped the row of stitches stopped me, lol.

I know people do it successfully all the time with steeking so this is really just superstition, but since I'VE never done it I don't know where to start!

This sweater is definitely cursed. On top of having redone it and also lost it so many times, it's the one where I lost the zipper I initially ordered, gave up and ordered a second zipper, then found the original zipper like a month later. Also the one where I lost it when it was done except for the ends being woven in, and when I finally found it and blocked it I discovered a moth-eaten hole in the middle of the back motif so there was no way to fix it with surgery. (It also was too small anyway, so it wouldn't have mattered, but can you imagine if THAT was the deciding factor.)