Baby's first sweater

I have been knitting for several years now, and I like to think I'm fairly good at it. I've been bold about cables, socks, fancy ribbings, some lace, et cetera. But I've never tried a sweater. Not that they look difficult, they just look so.... big. I've been afraid of finding the right pattern and the right yarn and giving it a try only to abandon it in it's armpits, shuffle the mass of yarn around as I guiltily store the abandoned thing and never get it done. Or that I will finish it and it will suck. It's such a lot of time, energy and expense... How do you know when you've found the pattern that's just right? How do you know you've got the skills to tackle such a project? At what point do you have to admit that even if you do an awesome job, you are not going to be transformed into that pretty brunette who sometimes models for Rowan's knitting books upon putting it on? Upon braver reflection, I think I'm over-thinking this. And I think I have commitment issues. 

I'm also kidding about wrestling with these tough issues. The truth of the matter is more likely that I like small tricky projects better than I like the idea of slogging through 20 inches of stockinette. But I've begun to face my fears, or overcome my habits or whatever it is that will bring me to knit a sweater. 

I've chosen a pattern.

It's the "Retrograde Pullover" by Amy M. Swenson from the Winter 2006 Interweave Knits magazine. The photo attached to the link is different from the one in the magazine. It's designed to be reversible, and I think that's the reverse of the photo I've been looking at. And, yes, it's supposed to be a men's sweater. I still think it will look good on me, and having this guy model it takes the edge off not looking like that *Rowan model in all things knitted whom I mentioned earlier. 

Onto the other fun part- the materials! 

For my yarn I have gotten 10 skeins of a deep deep tursquoise from Yarn Hollow. I was helping Rita get ready for some shows she's going to be at when I found this yarn. I had been mooning over her color "moroccan blue" and wishing it were more green, which is pretty much what this is. I don't know if she has it up on her website, but I've been calling it "moroccan green". 

I've got a swift made out of a coat rack somewhere in the attic... I'll have to put in a movie or audio book sometime this week to wind all of this... 

My plan for the actual knitting is to do it on the train on my upcoming trip to Dallas, TX. It's over 20 hours of travel time. Upon which I may ironically arrive in late-July-Dallas with a wool sweater. If I don't finish the whole thing on the way down, there's always the ride back!

* Let me explain- This particular model is one that a friend and I have built a considerable and (we think) funny mythology about her "character" in the books she's in. We have a long running plan to make illustrated paper dolls to dress up in all the knitting patterns we'll never actually get around to making. We think this is funny, thus my exaggerated pouting. I don't have low self-esteem or a habit of idolizing models or anything like that, I just think it's funny. Just so ya know.