Sigh of Relief

This

is why I've been so cranky about the Knitting Olympics.

Huh?

Months ago, a customer brought this in to be finished. She'd knit the cardigan and the matching dress, and wanted us to do the steek on the cardigan. (The dress had no steek and she finished that herself.)

Sure, we do steeks. Though usually, that's all we do: machine-stitch where the steeks go, cut them open, and hand the piece back to the customer to complete. I didn't really stop to think about the difference.

Or about the fact that most Dale Baby sweaters I've seen have been in the 6-month size, not the 3 year.

Time passed.

And when I finally had to buckle down and do it, it just wouldn't end. There's the neckband



and setting in the sleeves with their facings (the photo of which came out really bad, so just imagine), and the buttonband and buttonhole band:



(And a few ends to weave in.) And of course, all the bands are doubled, because they're turned under and stitched down to cover the cut edges of the fabric. I particularly hate having to do the buttonholes twice; I'm always sure they're not going to line up right. And I was on #1 needles, knitting tightly to keep the bands firm, and my hand hurt.

So along comes the Knitting Olympics, and I couldn't cast on anything new, and I couldn't even go on a UFO-finishing binge, because I couldn't do anything until this sweater was finished.

But at last, with help from Courtney in the last mile, the wretched Dale sweater is finished.

Cute, isn't it?