hurdles are hurdled, back to craft blather!

i have jumped through the final hoop of my first year at grad school. The "outside" (off-topic qualifying proposal) is done, finished, completed. I had the weekend to recover from the stress-collapse that followed. Now i can think about fun summer activities. I still work in the lab all summer, but there are no classes and teaching until the fall, so its less stressful than the rest of the year. That means time for crafting again!

Right, i need to get back to this aran fiasco that happened just before vacation. I finished all the pieces of the blue/green Beaverslide aran. I put them together. i knit the neck and triumphantly tried it on....

its HUGE. i mean really huge. i'm swimming in it. It can be worn off-should in an attempt at "Flashdance does Fisherman's Sweaters". my guage is wrong? Nope, its spot on. Have i knit the wrong size? It is designed to be 50" around, for a person with a 44.5" bust. I double checked: still my bust size, check. actual width of sweater, check.

Something is wrong with the ease of the sweater. Up to this point, i really thought i understood ease. i've been knitting sweaters for many years now. I know that 5" of ease is a lot, but i like my sweaters roomy. That's when i realized the fatal error:

The model in the photograph is not wearing a sweater with 5" of ease.
She is obviously wearing a sweater with MUCH less ease. The sweater on her is almost tight fitting, definitely not the baggy ease called for by the pattern designers. (according to this handy-dandy easement chart, a sweater of this size is going to be very baggy.) When i started knitting this sweater (3+ years ago) i had a pretty accurate idea of the size. And i wanted a very baggy sweater. People change, i am more comfortable wearing a tighter fit than i was a few years ago. And as time went on i began to picture the model in the booklet and thought i was making myself a sweater that would fit me in the same way. I completely forgot that i was making a larger sweater. UGH!

All is not lost. I need to rip out the collar and do it again on smaller needles. Then block the whole thing. And realize that its going to be a roomy sweater. And from now on i will be hypercritical of the sweater pictured and the model that's wearing it. (coming soon, my gripe about the super ridiculous ease guidelines on the new sweater i'm knitting!)