Category: Striped Sweater

Yay, the Phillies won their game today!

Yet, I am no further on my sleeves. Ask me why.

Well, since you asked, it’s because I made a small error in my pattern. I was increasing the stitches EOR (every other row) when in fact I should have been increasing them every 4th row. Good thing I caught the error last night before I finished the sleeves. I would have had sleeves 2 times too large. What a sight that would have been! I’m even more grateful that I caught the error before I posted the pattern in my Etsy store.

So, I ripped out all the increase rows. This morning I was back to where I started from on Monday (a quarter of the way done). I have made progress on the right sleeve as I was knitting during the baseball game, but I still have the sinking feeling that I took two steps back. Well, I know what I will be doing tonight.

There is another sign of trouble in my pattern, but I don’t want to talk too much about it. It might jinx me. (I am running out of brown yarn!)

Of course, first things first, time to garden with my trusty companion, Jake. Then, I have to run up to the grocery store. I’m out of heavy cream again and one simply cannot make good alfredo sauce without heavy cream. The broccoli is sure to cross out all the unhealthy attributes the heavy cream brings to the table … or at least that is what I plan to tell myself. =)

I didn’t think the traffic was that bad last night. My husband disagreed. I should mention that he was driving to the Phillies game while I was knitting in the passenger seat, but I can’t see how it matters. I made good progress on my sleeves during the drive. So good, I will be winding skeins of yarn into balls tonight. (I ran out of yarn on my left sleeve!)

The ride back home was quicker, but that didn’t help our mood. The Phillies’ record is 3-9 (3 wins out of 12 games). It’s so painful to watch. I hate to admit it, but the pitching isn’t good. My boys, Myers and Maddog, aren’t pitching well at all. Chutley, Rowand, and Ruiz are not hitting well. Howard isn’t seeing the ball. Yet, Howard’s saving grace is that he is keeping his walk numbers up. Jimmy, Vicky, Hamels and Geary are doing fine, but can’t seem to drag the rest of the team with them. It’s maddening, I tell you! Maddening!

The design for the shawl is coming along at a fast pace. I am in the gauge phase. There will be two different patterns used in the shawl and thus two different gauges. I plan to incorporate beading and maybe some glittery yarn (Rowan’s shimmer line, I think). I’ll see how the gauges come out.

I am tossing around some sewing projects too. One is a message board (using a cork board for the base) and one is a star pillow (just to prove my knitted star pillow design can in fact look right at home in a teenager’s room). They are both in the “sleep on the idea” stage of the planning. I love that stage!=)

My sister called this morning with more Disney plan information. Kail, my 3-year-old nephew, was the cutest. He had to get on the phone twice to talk to me. Once to tell me that he hurt his knee. Then to tell me that he was “all better now”. He’s such a ham!

Well, I’m on to knit for the last half hour before I take Jake out to garden. (He eats the sticks that I trim from the hedge. It’s a good system).

Happy Winding!

Now that the pillow is done (both the star pillow and the pattern to make it are listed in my Etsy store), I have no excuse to ignore my striped sweater. I have tried to implement the policy that if one dedicates a few minutes to a project everyday, at the end of the week one has dedicated a full two hours to it. Of course, at this rate, this warm wool sweater will be finished just in time for the dog days of summer. Clearly, I need to step it up a bit.

Another bit of advice I tried to implement was the following: one should always knit sleeves at the same time. This advice seemed logical. It even seemed like it would save me time by not having to count rows and measure every few minutes. I’ve decided it is not advisable when working with more than one color. The colors keeps twisting around each other. I have spent more time untwisting the balls of yarn than I have spent knitting. I caught myself wishing I could burn the sleeves this morning. When one starts thinking such wicked thoughts, it is time to conquer and divide the sleeves.

And, so, I have done just that. Well, I divided them. The conquering part still waits to be seen.

Can I boast that I am a quarter of the way done?

With no baseball to watch tonight (Phillies have been postponed again due to all this rain), I hope to make some headway on these sleeves.

Supper time! Potato soup … mmmmm. On a cold, wet day like today, I think it’s just what the doctor ordered.

Happy Knitting!