On purpose.

And I’d never even worn it.

This was the first sweater I ever started (not the first one I ever finished, because I paused to make one for My Old Man before this one was done). I made it back in 2006. It’s the To Dye For pullover from Stitch ‘N Bitch: The Knitter’s Handbook. I loved the looks of the pattern because of the bell sleeves and the split sides. I loved the looks of the yarn (Suri from KnitPicks). But the finished product left a lot to be desired. It really only had two flaws, but they were fatal:

1. It made me look like a lump.
2. I seamed the armholes too tight.

I could’ve undone and redone the armholes (though in this particular yarn that would’ve been a HUGE pain). But it simply wasn’t worth it for a sweater that was so entirely unflattering on me.

So why did I let it sit in my closet for over seven years? Oh, my typical reasons:

1. I thought that some day I might turn into a waif and the sweater would suddenly look great on me.
2. I thought I might frog the sweater and repurpose the yarn.
3. I hate throwing things away.

I’m running out of places to store the handknits I actually like and wear, so I finally got over these obstacles. I decided not to bother trying to pass this thing off to anyone else – the sleeve seams are just too tight (at least for anyone for whom the body would fit) and the yarn just isn’t worth recycling. I didn’t enjoy knitting with it the first time, why would I (or anyone else) want to knit with it after it had been unknit?

So I tossed it. This represents progress for me. I hate to throw things away because I always figure that I (or someone else) will have a use for them some day.

Of course the real progress would be if I could always keep in mind that I am not, in fact, a waif, and should never knit patterns just because they look great on waif-like models.

What about you? Ever thrown away a hand knit?