Wearing the old boyfriend

[darkemeralds]

A very, very long time ago, I began knitting a cardigan for a skinny boyfriend. You know, the "maybe this is serious" moment when the relationship is probably doomed.

It was, and I put the knitting away, occasionally running across it in a decluttering stint during the intervening fifteen years, and squinting sideways at it as one does at some glaring, uncomfortable sight.

But a couple of months ago I joined Ravelry and was moved to log all my stashed yarns and all my works in progress, and the boyfriend sweater turned out to be 75% complete and in perfect, un-mothed, un-musty condition. So I took it up again, and I finished it last night.

I stuck girly pink buttons on it, rinsed and blocked it, and put it on this morning for the near-freezing ride to work. Warm, comfortable, and considerably less hassle than the boyfriend.



Those who've been reading my journal for any length of time may note that this is the first picture of me you have ever seen here. This is...some kind of milestone.

Comments

[sporky_rat]

That sweater is fantastic! And love your sense of style - classic yet sleek. And that ring!

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. The ring, like the sweater, was originally designed for a man to wear. (Actually, though you can't see them in this picture, so were my shoes.) I guess I like menswear look!

[vampirefan]

omfg! that looks awesome!!!

looks warm and it fits you wonderfully!

and i can say that you definitely look much slimmer... \o/

[vampirefan]

oh! and that's gotta be the big amethyst ring!!!

[darkemeralds]

And yes, that is the BigAmethystRing. Which is frequently at gmail dot com.

[vampirefan]

also, you do know that making a boyfriend a sweater seems to be the kiss of death... i know i've seen it mentioned on ravelry... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweater_curse

[darkemeralds]

OMG, that article is brilliant and hilarious.

My niece, who is just under 21 and living on her own in New York City, emailed me not long ago about the problem of needing to break with a guy she had never been very interested in in the first place. I said, "Knit him a sweater." LOL! I didn't know how right I was.

[vampirefan]

ha!!! i hadn't actually read the whole thing. they treat it as a real thing! but you know, your situation fit perfectly.

you've gotta ask her if she did make him something! i'm curious, maybe it worked...

[darkemeralds]

Considering that she doesn't even know how to knit, I'm guessing not. LOL! But last time we talked, a few days ago, I didn't hear anything about an importunate hanger-on, so maybe she's slipped away, no harm no foul.

[darkemeralds]

The sweater is totally comfy. It's finally spring here, and we're having some of that flying-storm weather--bright sunshine, hail, rain, bright sunshine, all within a half hour. The sweater is perfect for it.

And almost 50 lbs into this diet, I finally feel like I can look at myself in the mirror and not die (though the camera sees things my eyes edit out!).

[executrix]

Way cool sweater! And I like the styling with the popped collar and the scarf.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks.

Me and popped collars. It must be a vestige of good times in the 80s.

[(Anonymous)]

born of sorrow here - that story is epic and should be used as the basis for a short story for publication - it just has so many possibilities and lovely symmetry :D

On the other hand I am similarly lj shy and it is interesting to see the beautiful cardigan, the pink buttons and your elegant self - maybe not a face but certainly a cardigan to a name!

I wonder where the BF is now? Do you know...?

[darkemeralds]

Hi! And thank you.

Last I heard, the BF had settled down with a nice woman who wanted babies (and was therefore by definition quite a lot younger than either him or me) and bought a house out in the 'burbs. Bless him. He was a good man and deserved what he was looking for.

[bluemeridian]

It looks fabulous! Plus, I agree with executrix - the styling really adds to it.

Warm, comfortable, and considerably less hassle than the boyfriend.

*snorfle* Probably much more useful, too. ;P

[darkemeralds]

LOL!

Considering that I was the one with the power tools in that relationship (not a euphemism--I mean saws and drills and stuff), yeah, the utility was not heavily in his favor.

[panisdead]

DUDE, AWESOME SWEATER.

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. I'm complacently comfy in it.

[alex_beecroft]

Very smart! I like the whole outfit.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks! I seem to be moving away from black-on-black, and into some less complexionally-demanding colors. About time, too!

[communicator]

Finished it off in a night! Very impressive. Nice to see (most of) you.

[darkemeralds]

False impression: I finished it last night, but only after several long evenings' labor between rescuing the project from deep in my closet and wearing it today. I knit approximately the way I write fiction: slowly and with considerable self-editing.

[communicator]

Fair enough, I can't even knit at all, so I am impressed in any case. I know what you mean about trust (comments below). I am on an Open University online course this year, which uses forums to support online seminars. Most people have their own image, but I am currently using a picture of Ripley in a space suit for my icon. I thought the spacesuit would be enough of a clue that this wasn't the real me.

[darkemeralds]

Hee! Yeah, you'd hope people would understand that no matter how much you might personally resemble Sigourney Weaver, you didn't go into space for your headshot.

I am of two minds about representing myself visually online. On the one hand, I don't mean to deceive anyone and don't want to appear to be doing so. I'm not worried about privacy per se, either, though if I were younger I might be. So I think I ought to have a real picture of my face online.

On the other hand, I prefer to be reacted to based on what I write here, without the prejudices that accrue to gray hair, facial lines, evidence of fatness, etc., and have been used to make perfectly capable women vanish. So, have a cartoon.

[donutsweeper]

It's beautiful!

[darkemeralds]

Thanks! I'm really enjoying it. It's rare that I knit anything, and rarer still that it both fits and works as anticipated. I count this one a win.

[karen_jk]

Omigosh! you look awesome. Thank you for trusting us with your pic.

Love you in the sweater.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks! And thanks for understanding about the trust. It's a mark of my having worked through some stuff, so that the world in general feels like a safer place. My friends, online and off, have always been trustworthy, and the problem has lain within my own mind.

[karen_jk]

I do understand. And...I hope all of us would treat you gently, respectfully, and with love, as you deserve.

Um...on flickr, one of the pics shows quite a bit of your face. Do you want that one up?

[darkemeralds]

Oh...yeah, I guess I did leave that one there.

I'm not trying to be incognito, just having no luck getting a picture that doesn't make me look ten years older than I am (and twenty years older than I feel!).

[verilyvexed]

A) You look awesome.
B) The sweater looks awesome.
C) Ooh, I wish I could knit properly.
D) Love the scarf!
E) I'm going to stalk you and pester you to be my hand model.

...Why that required a list, no clue, but there you have it.

[darkemeralds]

A) B) and D): thank you kindly.

C) I have no advice. It came naturally to me. I understand that it doesn't come naturally to everyone. The price I pay, however, is a detail orientation throughout my life that makes many things kind of difficult.

E): Okay! But a slightly clearer and closer shot of my hands might change your mind. They're a bit...careworn.

[darkemeralds]

F) How is it that we haven't hitherto been subscribed to each other's journals? That's just odd.

[verilyvexed]

I wasn't much using my journal before, and mostly had created it to comment. I just read on LJ - I don't think I've ever used the reading list on this account. /o\

[starfishchick]

Awesome!

[darkemeralds]

*bows*

[pinesandmaples]

The only time I tried to knit for a partner, I ended up selling the yarn to a friend after the dude was long gone. To avoid future pain, I told my wife she must knit her own sweaters.

[darkemeralds]

That strikes me as a very sound plan!

In my case, the pain was long gone and the yarn was still perfectly good, so now I've got a nice cardi!