Goodbye

I bid a non-tearful farewell to my Knit for Kids "foreversweater" today at the Post Office Drive Thru. Less than five bucks and it's off to New York state for distribution. I know I've bitched about finally getting it off my needles and out of my sight, but it was done with care and it felt very good to produce such a good and needful thing. As I slid it into the mailing bag, I noticed a row about halfway down the body. The stitches are twisted backwards all the way across. It was there I had to rip out several rows for a dropped stitch or other catastrophe and loaded them back on the needle flipped the wrong way. My fellow knitters were kind. "That's not a mistake, that's a design feature".

God bless 'em.

And God bless the kid.

Knit for Kids

The damn Knit For Kids sweater is done. I never thought I would be so glad to be done with a charity project. Seaming up from the bottom was easy, but going across the sleeves was a NIGHTMARE. I must have ripped it out 8 – 9 times. No lie. I had 4 references for seaming and just couldn't get it through my thick skull (or thick fingers in my case). Then while studying the diagram for the umpteenth time I heard a click. Yup, my brain actually clicked. I picked up that tapestry needle and began to seam that puppy.

Somewhere along the right sleeve I must have added a stitch so I had to do some fancy work to make the edge work out but finally

IT IS FINISHED.

I washed it and blocked it on a cool piece of insulation Bobby got for me for a blocking board covered with a towel. After I show it off to my knitting pals it’s off to the post office and some little kid who will love it more than me. Don’t get me wrong, it was a great experience. But if I never see another seam again . . .

Oh, and there's one more thing that blew my mind. The Gauge. I knitted according to gauge. I measured and counted obsessively. Throughout the whole process I picked up only one stitch on my first sweater. The freaking thing came out waaay too wide in the body. I was a fraction off on two other dimensions but we're talking four inches. But check out the drawing from the pattern.

See any similarities?

It looks like short stubby arms are all the rage.

It's Here!

Yesterday this was in our garden.

Yupper, Spring is here. The first crocus has finally come up. Had to get the camera for this one. I gotta get some Snow Crocus. They would always peek out in February. I can remember one year they bloomed on Valentines Day. I always called Grandmom when I saw the first one. She loved her garden and gave me all of the bulbs and bushes at my first house. I moved some here but I believe Grandmoms have finally all been eaten by some neighboring squirrels. (Surely not my baby squirrels). I think all of her 13 children, 26 grandchildren and plenty of other family have plants from her. The dark lilac I have is a direct descendant of the one in her yard. I still think of her and miss her so much at times like this. When Bobby and I got to the WH&G show, the fragrance was overwhelming. I sat there with my eyes closed and felt like a succubus. The flowers. The trees. The mulch. The dirt. The Koi in the pond. Yup. One of the displays had a display with Koi about 18 - 24". Beautiful.

Oh yeah. I'm done with the snow and ready for Spring.

Today we got more.

Last week Bobby showed me a sale at Ollies and we took a road trip. I picked up some pretty purple chenille by Lion Brand dirt cheap. It’s so soft. I get so cold sometimes watching TV and knitting but a blanket over my legs doesn’t help the arthritis in my neck. It’s hard to adjust a shawl with my right arm and I think a wrap that stays put when I get up to pee is perfect. I'm looking at shrug patterns. I need to swatch the chenille to be sure it doesn’t break since Holly Anne warned me some discount house yarns are notorious for that. I can take it back for store credit within 30 days. It's so lush, I hope it's okay.

I almost finished my Knit for Kids sweater Thursday. It's on a circular needle to carry the weight of the sweater and keep me from dropping a needle (besides I didn't have the required size but did have a nice set of interchangeable circs when I started it many moons ago). At K1P2 I almost blew it though. I realized I had joined my ends. D'uh... too much knitting in the round lately?

tink, tink, tink.

The good news is I am almost done. 6 more rows ought to do it. Add a little seaming on the shoulders and voila! Sweater according to pattern. Now that I know how to crochet I’m dying to try it as an edge and this sweater is the perfect project I think. One of the sleeves has a few missed k stitches at the end of a p row.

Me? . . . Sewing?

Saints preserve us! I can seam a sweater. Well half a sweater at least. I worked on my endless burgundy Knit for Kids project yesterday and felt it was time to begin the arms of the second side. I wanted to be sure my seams of the body would match, so i seamed up the two sides bottom to top to the arm pit. Why was I so terrified? I went from bottom up on each side, bundling the rest of the yarn in the armpit. I'll be able to continue to the cuffs when I'm finished. I gotta tink out four rows of the sweater's second side (damn, I wish it was knit four more) but I'm a pro at that.

On to the arms.