Gemini the First

So I started my first Gemini on a camping trip in June.  Checked gauge for the first four-five inches. I know... I'm "supposed" to knit a swatch and check that, but I haven't found my gauge to run true on swatches.  So I pick a small part that I'll need to knit anyway--in this case, the neckline and yoke-- and just begin with the needle size I think I'll need.  And truly, I had gauge.  22 stitches/4 inches.  But somewhere along the way, I didn't have gauge any longer.  However, I had stopped being worried about it.  It wasn't until I was trying it on to determine if I'd knit it long enough that I realized it wasn't going to have negative four inches of ease.  In fact it felt a little roomy...

Pull out tape measure.  Check gauge.  20 stitches/4 inches.  Measure width of NEARLY FINISHED garment....  38 inches.  Which means I have zero ease.   I finished it anyway.  I wore it for a day.  And then I passed it off to my pregnant sister.  She'll wear it for the fall, and then return it to me.  I simply can't bear to frog it without any wear.

I've become extremely interested in waste in the fashion industry.  I have a minimalist shopping philosophy  (reduce!), and I've always been a mostly thrift store clothes shopper (reuse!).  This feels like I'm moving in the right direction.  And this sweater is made with recycled yarn (recycle!).  It was originally a lovely summer sweater that I knit in the summer of 1997.  I distinctly remember knitting it on the plane to Japan where I was going to start my first "real" job.  My current struggle? Can I continue to buy new yarn it I don't ever put it in the waste stream?  Can I just keep reknitting the same yarn from one project to another?  And what about the things I give to others?  Can I ask for them back if they want to "get rid" of them?  Will folks admit to getting rid of hand knits?  But no one keeps baby sweaters forever, do they?