My husband, the genius

So, the Jesus Sweater. It has been making me crazy. I love the pattern, the cables, the shaping. But I just could NOT bind off that darn edge so that it didn't roll like crazy.

The original pattern said to do an applied I-cord. I spent three hours on this endeavor and found that it rolled anyway, so I spent another hour picking it out.

I talked to all of my best knitting problem solvers; the ladies at my group, friends online, and no one had any suggestions that really worked the way I wanted them to.

A wider I-cord didn't work, it still rolled. A hem flipped. I didn't want a garter stitch bottom or ribbing. I wouldn't have minded a plain rolled edge but it rolled way too much.

Someone suggested a wide cable going the 'wrong' way, but I couldn't figure out a way to attach it appropriately. A three needle bind off made it flip, and grafting that many stitches is just too hard to make look right.

I was near tears as I related my tale of woe to Mr. Knittykat. I listed off all the things that didn't work and why they didn't work, and told him I was at the end of my rope. I wanted to wear the stupid sweater but I didn't know if I'd ever figure out a way to make the bottom look right. I joked I would wear it with the needle in it and call it a forward fashion statment.

He thought for a moment and said "Well, why is it rolling?" I said that, of course, stockinette rolls towards the knit side because the purl side is slightly larger.

He thought again and said "Isn't there some way you could do a *reverse* stockinette, that would make the bottom roll the OTHER way?"

Holy heavens he was right. I did 5 rows of reverse stockinette and bound off. The bottom edge made a perfect little reverse-stockinette roll that looks almost corded and rolls just the right amount. It weights down the regular stockinette enough to stop that from rolling. In a word, he had the perfect solution. And he doesn't even knit!

So I am happy, I can cruise on to the hood and finish this sweater already! I can't wait to wear it, this has been one HELL of a pattern fraught with challenges, but I figure life is like that sometimes too. Sometimes you have to try all the things that DON'T work before you find something that does.

And for other happy news, all you other bloggers out there will get the significance of this, sent to me by a very sweet friend all the way from Japan :-)