Spring Break

The first day of break. I went to the office and found a parking spot nearby. Graded 19 portfolios and fewer sketch diaries. (Those kids are in trouble). Caught up on a little gossip, then went to the grocery store. Had lunch with DH. Went home and started a crock pot dinner. Bratwurst, slaw mix and chicken broth. The house smells yummy.

Sat down and got a little knitting done on the cabled cardigan before time to pick up the kids, and here's how it stands. I frogged the right panel and reknitted it over the weekend. Then I made a sleeve. After the sleeve was done, I was pretty sure it was WAY to long, so I pinned the sweater together, and tried it on. Yes, the sleeve looked as if it had been made with an orangutan in mind. I mean, on the model, it just brushes her knuckles. On me, it hangs beyond the tips of my fingers. I folded it up and it was the right length, but the sleeve is pretty close fitting, and the bulkiness of the folded cuff didn't do it for me. I measured how much shorter it should be in order to do what it's doing on the model, and it needs to be exactly 1/2 the length it is, which would 3.5 inches, also how long the ribbing is on the bottom of the sweater. Does that model have abnormally long arms, or am I the freak?


So I'm reknitting that sleeve to have a 3.5 inch cuff instead of a 7 inch one. When it's done, I'll pin it to the sweater body just to make sure it's the right length, and if so, I'll make another. I'm determined to get this sweater just right. (You know, after ENID). I googled the pattern and found a few bloggers who also made it, and they all seem to have the too-long-sleeve problem.

I'm not frustrated though. I'm looking at this as an exercise in patience and reward. I am thinking in advance of how nicely I'm going to sew the seams, and how I'll finally overcome my "picking-up" clumsiness. The button band/collar/button hole band is one long k2 p2 rib that is picked up from the bottom of one panel, around the neck to the bottom off the other panel. That should give me plenty of practice on picking up and knitting. I think I'll block the pieces before sewing together, instead of after, just to see what happens. Hopefully, the reward will be a sweater that I love and will wear often.