Goldilocks Syndrome Continues

I’ve written about it before ( here and here) but my battle with Goldilocks Syndrome continues! The latest episode: I started a sweater for my son: The Dude Sweater by Andrea Rangel. It was a request from my son about a year ago – he is a big fan of The Big Lebowski. I blogged about it earlier here. But the summer came and who wants to knit a sweater in Cascade Eco-Wool entirely in K1P1? Not this Southern Girl!! And perhaps not even Andrea Rangel – she just revised her pattern here with a lighter weight yarn (Brooklyn Tweed Shelter) and mostly in stockinette stitch. Oh yeah, the original The Dude sweater is still a free download on Ravelry. The new pattern, The Knitter’s Dude, is available for $8 on Ravelry.

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This is the WIP when I picked it up again a week or so ago. First thing, I took the project off the needles to measure. (My college-age son is still growing). Although heartbroken at the idea of frogging so much work, I knew this would not have the intended positive ease. So, ripppppppp.

I started again. Gauge and positive ease both looked good. I looked at The Knitter’s Dude to see if it would work better but (a) I already had my Cascade Eco Wool, (b) I never steeked before and didn’t want to try with a gift and (c) I wasn’t sure if you could steek and add the vertical facing for the zipper (versus the horizontal button band in the new design. I really want to add the zipper). Also, the schematic, to me, really modifies the design away from looking like The Big Lebowski Sweater – it’s shorter than the free design and the button-band is, well, more girl-y.  Andddddd, if you look at Pendleton’s website (maker of The original Westerly Sweater worn in the movie), they offered an updated, modified sweater last year too. And guess what? They scrapped it! Went back to the original design. (You can read about it here). So, I started again with the original The Dude but I modified it so that the body would be one piece. (The sleeves will eventually be knit in the round and joined to the body).
I posted this pic to Instagram.

IMG_1547Looking at it, I started to think about how heavy the sweater will be. Maybe too heavy even for winters in South Bend. Certainly too heavy for Atlanta winters. So, ripppppppp.   Honestly, I can’t even believe that I did that again!

So, now what? I decided the Pendleton sweater probably was not as heavy as a sweater knit with Cascade Eco Wool. And, like Andrea Rangel, I know that stranded color work in K1P1 on a flat knitted piece is difficult.  So, continuing with the one piece, knit flat design), I decided to knit the sweater in stockinette. Easier on the knitter, not so heavy to wear. I could still add the vertical facing and add the zipper (critical elements of The Dude Sweater to me).  I re-designed the colorwork section for my flat sweater (Size 44″ to give 2-3 inches of positive ease). Also, versus the free design on Ravelry, my colorwork will line up and flow between front and back. I’ll redesign the sleeve colorwork to match.

IMG_0340 So, here is the current state of my The Dude Sweater. I went down a needle size – I’m using US Size 9 – to have a denser fabric. I also used the Size 9 Needles for the ribbing. (I tend to dislike a really tight ribbing using smaller needles). I’m about to start the first colorwork section.
So, does anybody else have Goldilocks Syndrome when knitting? How do you resolve issues? How many times have you started and re-started a project? Share here!!!!