Since I'm still luxuriating in the accomplishment of the finished sweater, here's details. I literally have to order Thing 1 to take it off, which makes me even more sad that I was so worried about the amount of yarn I had and needed to make it so slim. She won't hear of me ripping out the bottom to extend it, and so I'm just going to have to plan to make her another sweater later this summer to wear next winter. Hey! it's a good thing that it's so rainy, I guess. She'll have more cool weather to wear this before she outgrows it. That should happen in about a week, given her age and past history.

Folks have mentioned that the other kids can wear it, but I'm not sure Thing 1 will be able to handle that. It might just go into the cedar chest I've commissioned from Eric (heee) for future grandchildren, years and years ahead.

Since typing that has made me woozy, without further ado, here's sweater closeups:

Front shot. Bonus points if you can spot the error that is going to make me rip out a seam and redo it. For those of you who wonder at my sanity, I'm leaving some "cabling on the wrong row" errors on the sleeve saddles and one mis-done seed stitch. So there. I'm not nuts.


The sleeve cap fudging (I made them much shallower than the saddle-shoulder pattern I was referencing suggested) worked well. I started the decreasing, and then just kept laying the sleeve caps (on the needles) up against the fronts and backs until it looked about right. Apparently that kind of "improv within structure" knitting works best for me, since I'm mostly incapable of following instructions.

Here's the back. Nice bit of trash on the floor, no? I swear, I ask them to pick up. . .


And a closeup of the folded collar. This was a new technique for me, and I love the stretchy feel of it. I'm not certain that a purl folding row works in 1x1 rib, but it's what I've got. And no, my fingers are not purple, although it's cold in here. They're. . . finger colored.


And that's that. I have a new design for a hat on the needles, and if it works as well as I hope, I'll post a pattern when I'm done. Meanwhile, I have to re-do the seam on this sweater, deal with sick children AGAIN, and get the house back under control.

The DI team didn't place, so we don't have to stress about not having enough money to travel to the next level. I still think they were marvelous, but some technical difficulties during their performance lowered their scores. C'est la vie, and I don't think they're too traumatized. I'm loving the idea of having our time back from rehearsals!

And, I think that Suzee needs to make up her own non-fiction book meme. Can it count as tagging if I just command her to do it? Consider it done.