Sweater, revisited

Like I said in my last post, fall is here to stay. (I hope. Now that I've typed that, watch us have an Indian Summer at Thanksgiving.)

Anyways, that meant that last weekend was spent hauling out all the cold-weather clothes, including this one, which you may remember:
It's the Cable-Down Raglan that I knit last year out of Patons Classic Wool. I wore it to work yesterday, and as you can see (maybe), it's held up pretty well. But there's something I didn't like about it. Somehow, it sags in the armpits. I couldn't figure out what the problem was - did I do too many raglan increases for the arms? According to the pattern, I did the right thing. My gauge swatch was right on. It wasn't my favorite thing I'd ever knitted, but I wore it like a mother wears the paper crown her kid made for her, even if it looks a bit like a cross between a brontosaurus and a platter of wilting lettuce. It may be an imperfect sweater, but it's MY imperfect sweater.

Well, when I was pulling it on yesterday, I had an epiphany.

The sweater is TOO BIG.

As in four inches too big.

So I have a sweater that's a size or two too big. Oh well. I'll keep wearing it, because it is MINE, yes preciousssss...but I may re-knit it in a smaller size.

And yes, I know - I should have washed my gauge swatch. I'm horrible about not washing my gauge swatches.

We had a very special visitor to our deer feeder yesterday morning.

It's the White Stag! We haven't been able to tell if this is an albino or a white deer. Whatever he is, he's pretty gorgeous! He practically glows when he's out at the deer feeder, and that's saying something when you think about the red Oklahoma dirt he lives in. We didn't try to catch him to see if he would grant us wishes, though!

New camera!

In case you haven't guessed by now, I got a new camera for my birthday! It's a Canon PowerShot SD870 IS, and it takes some pretty fantastic pictures.

Third time's the charm?

At the March 2007 Knit-In, I cast on for a pair of socks. They were my first "pattern" socks. The yarn was Plymouth Sockotta, and the pattern was Conwy, from Nancy Bush's Knitting on the Road. I finished that sock fairly quickly.

I cast on for the second sock yesterday. Yes, this is/was a 17-month case of Second Sock Syndrome. I've knit EIGHT pairs of socks between sock 1 and sock 2.

Here's one of the eight pairs. I finished the Spring Forward socks, and I do love them! They're possibly the best-fitting socks I've knit. I can see this pattern becoming the new Monkeys.

But certain members of the household just want the shoes...Clarks are the most comfortable shoes I've ever worn, but I don't think I like them quite this much. They aren't quite as dirty as they appear.

Incidentally, I was thinking about getting a new camera, since the "down" button on mine is broken. This is the button used to zoom and select new settings. (Slight problem.) I wanted a camera with a macro setting so I could take up-close pictures of my knitting. Well, last night, I *gasp!* picked up the instruction manual for my camera, and it had a section about using the macro setting. So THAT'S what the little tulip button is for!

New yarn and furry friends

One of the benefits of Ravelry is that you can trade out yarn that you're tired of looking at. I had some Schaeffer Anne in a bright yellow-green and Schaeffer Miss Priss in a variegated yellow, blue, and green - both lovely yarns, but my inspiration was waning with both. So I swapped them for some lovely Malabrigo. I received two skeins of Oceanos and one of Peach Tree. Oceanos is a variegated blue, from darkest navy to palest sky, and Peach Tree is a mix of warm peach with olive green.








Yesterday, we had a family reunion for my maternal grandfather's side. (And before you ask, no, these are not my family members!) Family reunions are usually almost as exciting as renewing your driver's license, but one of my cousins-several-times-removed) had a spectacular idea. She brought gumdrops and spaghetti, and the kids could build towers. So of course, "the cousins" (me, my brother, my two cousins, and one cousin's boyfriend) had to get in on the fun! (And for the record, my 19-year-old brother was the youngest of the bunch.) One of my cousins is an engineer, so her tower made it to almost four feet tall. My other cousin and brother made a fortress-thing, complete with gumdrop people furnished by yours truly. My cousin's boyfriend's tower wound up looking an awful lot like Barad Dur from Lord of the Rings. I think this may become a family tradition!

After the reunion, we went back to my grandmother's house. She has a small farm, complete with Eight-Ball the Llama, Magnum and Elvira the miniature donkeys, chickens, and peacocks. Eight-Ball looks a bit intimidating, but he's such a marshmallow. He loves to lie out in the sun on his back on hot days. The first time my granddad saw him out there with his legs sticking straight up and his neck turned back, he was sure he had a dead llama. Llamas can be such drama queens.

Magnum and Elvira are my buddies. They're getting up there - I think Elvira is at least 23 years old! - but they're so sweet. The old proverb about donkeys being stubborn is mostly true. There are only two things these two will move for - sweet feed and petting. Give them a few scratches behind the ears, and they'll follow you anywhere. Magnum especially loves hugs.



As I was cleaning my closet (yikes!) the other day, I found a partial ball of wool left over from my Tangled Yoke Cardigan. So I made a little headband from it. It's very easy.

CO 3 sts on a circular or double-pointed needle. Work in I-cord for about 6-7 inches. (You want it to be long enough to tie behind your head.)
Start working in garter stitch; k1, kf&b, k to end; repeat until you have 12 stitches.
Start cable pattern:
Row 1: k2, p1, k6, p1, k2.
Row 2: k3, p6, k3.
Repeat rows 1 & 2 twice more.
Row 7: k2, p1, c3b, p1, k2
Row 8: k3, p6, k3
Repeat until cable section reaches across your head from ear to ear. (Cable pattern is VERY stretchy.)
Start garter stitch end: k1, ssk, k to end; repeat until you have 3 stitches.
Work 3-stitch I-cord to the same length as the first I-cord. Bind off and weave in ends.