Oh snap!

The first sweater I ever designed was the sugary sweet cardigan. It's a vintage inspired cropped cardigan. The original was lost, but I got yarn to make another. This time in a size that would fit me, not a size 2. This first sweater design was a challenge for me. So I decided that the second sweater should also challenge my skills.

So I decided to knit the button band as I knit the sweater, without button holes. This way I would have no choice but to try sewing on snaps. The first step to sewing on snaps is to sew on ribbon, to stabilize the button band. I knit the sweater, blocked, it, took a trip to the store to find snaps and ribbon, and found some lovely fake pearl snaps that remind me of the pearl buttons that were on the original, and a light pink polka dot ribbon. I pinned the ribbon the the button band and began sewing. It was time consuming, but it looked nice (I got invisible thread to hide my less than experienced stitching), and before you knew it I was done with both sides of the ribbon. I laid out my sweater to see about snap placement when I noticed a terrible, horrible mistake. REALLY TERRIBLE. When I was pinning and sewing my ribbon onto the button band I had stretched it...a lot. So now both sides were 1.5-2 inches longer in the front than the back of the sweater. This photo undermines the severity of my mistake, because it only shows the bottom. There was more overlap at the top too! 

I immediately began cutting the thread, to pull the ribbon off. That invisible thread is pretty invisible, and while cutting it all out it seemed much less clever and much more annoying. The sweater is now blocking for a second time, and I'm hoping round 2 goes a little more smoothly. What terrifies me the most is that once I hammer the snaps in there's no taking them out... I can't just cut the invisible thread...