Sweater Sheepishness

I was so gung-ho to whip up this quick project to wear for the cold weather. I was even more motivated when the yarn turned up on sale. 

Then I finished this shrug. Quickly. It took me about four evenings worth of knitting to make the whole thing.

I tried it on late one night and decided it was kinda cute and then I spent the next 20 minutes weaving in all of the ends. 

The next day I looked at it again and hated it. 

Seriously.  

It looks really great just laying there, but when I put it on, it looked awful. There was something not quite right about it. I'm not sure if I bound off the ribbing too tightly, or if the sleeves were simply too long (note to pattern designers: just because some of us are bustier and therefore require a larger chest size in a pattern, it doesn't mean that we need to have the sleeves come down to our knees. Some clothing companies actually call me 'petite'.) Whatever the reason was, this was not the right pattern for me. 

I figured I'd just rip it out and try again. Then I realized I had already woven in the ends. ALL OF THEM. 

Sadly this is not a first for me. 

A few years ago, I made a simple grey sweater. For some reason, I didn't bother trying it on before I seamed the whole thing up and wove in ALL of the ends. 

The result was a GIANT sweater that could have easily been worn off the shoulder (it wasn't supposed to). I ended up having to try to figure out where the ends were and then I ripped the whole thing out. I made the vest on the right instead. It was much more fun to knit (sideways!) and I've gotten tons of compliments on it. 

I swore I'd never again weave in the ends until I was absolutely SURE. Sure sure. 

Earlier this year, I made this blue cotton cardigan. I started to weave in the ends when disaster struck. Luckily, I hadn't yet set the sleeves in, so it was infinitely less work to rip out the rest of the sweater. 

After I ripped out the Fisherman Shrug, I scoured my magazine stash, found a new pattern, and started on the Snowdrift Shrug. 

It looked so cute in the picture, but after I finished the body, and before I started the sleeves, I tried it on and I felt like a sheep. This sheep, in fact. There's something about bulky yarn and seed stitch in a cream color that reminds me of the flock.

I didn't weave in any ends yet, so there's still a chance that I can easily salvage the yarn and make something completely different. Or I can finish the sleeves and just look a little sheepish in the cold weather. Or I can go back to the Fisherman Shrug and make shorter sleeves and a few other adjustments.

Decisions, decisions. What would you do?