Why Do I Make Everything Cropped?

As I sat knitting in my Weight Watchers meeting earlier this week, another woman asked about my knitting.
"What are you making?", she asked.
"A sweater.", I replied.
"Oh, is it a childs sweater?"
"No, it's for me. It's just that it's cropped. I always make my sweaters cropped because I have short legs and that proportion is best for me."

But then I got to thinking. . .
Is this really the whole story? What are the real reasons I knit everything so small?

To start off, I'm cheap. Yes that's right, I'm here to tell you that I'm cheap. Why buy 9 balls of yarn when you can get away with 8? I can't tell you how many times I've stopped knitting sooner than I should because I was afraid I would run out of yarn. (This works well if you knit your sweaters top-down.) Many of my sweaters also have 3/4 sleeves. I buy a lot of my yarn on sale, on e-bay or on Elann, so you'd think that would be enough savings. No, I've just got to skip that last ball of yarn.

Then of course there is the issue of simply getting bored, or wanting to move on to the new more exciting project. It doesn't take nearly as long to knit a sweater that hits at your waist as it does to knit one that hangs to your hips.

So I'm thinking my next sweater needs to be a little longer. Maybe one of those beauties in Knitting Nature. I should give the longer length a chance. Maybe I'll see that it's not my short legs after all.

On another subject, more or less, I have a finished object. It's my bright orange cardi made from Arunciana Patagonia Nature Cotton. I'm calling it "Sunkist". And by the way, it's small enough that my 12 year old daugher wore it to school today!

Added Later:
I was just driving home from the grocery store, thinking about my knitting, as usual, and it occured to me, most of my socks are anklets. I think I see a trend here. It's knee socks and tunics for me from now on!

Comments

[LJ]

That's the best post yet! I can soooo relate. I have always known that I have a short attention span. I think that's why I am obsessed with knitting socks, purses, scarves, anything quick.

[S<3]

I love the part about your twelve year old daughter. I bet it looked adorable on her!!!!<3

[Beverly]

Will you share the Sunkist Cardi pattern? It's lovely!!