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!!!

I can't believe it!
I knitted something!
I knitted a sweater!
A real sweater - not just a few rows with gapping holes from where I'd dropped some stitches - but a real human-sized piece of clothing!

Let me explain...

I can crochet. I love to crochet. Granny squares, flowers, gloves, beanies, even a jumper - I've been able to master all of these things with crochet. Knitting for some reason, has always been more of a labour.

I love the freedom and forgiveness that comes with crochet. Make a mistake? No worries, just pull the yarn through and do-over, no drama. Meanwhile with knitting, I've always ended up throwing a fit when I drop a stitch because it always just seems too damn hard to fix (I know, I'm completely immature, but what can you do?).

I knew I needed my first real knitting adventure to result in something amazing and brilliant. Otherwise, I would try and convince myself (yet, again) that knitting just isn't worth the hassle and I'd retreat to my merry crocheting ways. So I sniffed around for something modern to make, and stumbled across this site.

They have such a brilliant range of knitting kits (that include wool/cotton, needles and a pattern) that you can buy online, or you can just take a squiz at their how-to video tutorials and learn to knit that way. Pretty darn good. (You can also buy their knitwear online, but that sort of defeats the purpose of learning how to knit, so we'll just skip straight past that, ok?)

To top it off, their name is just awesome. Wool and the Gang? Anyone that references R&B disco funk is fine by me.

So I got my little kit and was on my way. I felt so proud of myself that I was going to once and for all become a fabulous knitter (because I think a lot of my friends thought I could already knit brilliantly, when really I had just fallen into that category from all my crocheting endeavours - they're two different crafts, people!*), and yesterday, I finally finished the sweater. I was surprised at how quickly it came together, but then again, I did get into a bit of a frenzy there, and ended up spending Saturday and Sunday night at home knitting furiously and drinking many, many cups of peppermint tea.

I followed the pattern to a T. Well, right up until the end.

See, one of the features of this sweater top is the slits where the arm pieces meet.

In theory, this is kind of cool. In reality, these holes are like little windows to the armpits. Not so sexy, really.

So I stitched them up :)

Which I'm rather happy about. Now I don't feel like I'm unnecessarily flashing my armpits to strangers in my fancy new homemade sweater.
Thank goodness.

Know how to knit? What was the first thing you made? Crochet vs knitting - where do you stand?

*actually, my friends aren't so silly. I remember now, I did actually knit a few scarves back in high school. But I think I'd blocked those neon acrylic-wool creations out of my mind until just now...