Dear Ann,
It’s 3:15. One sleeve is joined to the body of my Whitby.
I know that seems like slow progress. But I had to work my way into the mood for mattress stitching row ends to stitches. A do-over was required when I realized that I was stretching the sleeve top by taking too many stitches in those tight 8-stitch cables. There was more doing-over when the yarn broke. Breaking the yarn is always a hazard with mattress stitch, which has to be pulled tightly through the stitches. This risk is enhanced by the nature of the denim yarn. After washing, the stitches shrink, making it hard to pull the yarn taut. A little too much muscle, and it pops, and you have to pull out enough stitching to give you an end to weave in. Ah well.
I also had to take a break to make myself some eggs and watch a bunch of Jimmy Fallon YouTubes. (Highly recommended: #hashtags with Justin Timberlake, thanks to you for showing me that one, and the lip-synching contest with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Stephen Merchant. So damn funny.) (I saved time by not linking to the videos. I have a sweater to sew up, people.)
I had to break out the headlamp for this close work. Over the years, I have found many ways to embarrass my kids. Answering the door with my with a blazing light on my head is right up at the top of the list.
Now I can verify that my measuring and estimating for sleeve length worked out okay.
Onward.
Love,
Kay
It looks great! Onward!
Glad to see you are still at it. The headlamp is such the perfect accessory!
The headlamp is brilliant! (Pun intended)
And that photo of you wearing it is super dang cute.
I totally need one of those – for knitting AND embarrassing the young’uns.
Kay, that photo w the headlamp? Most adorable thing I’ve seen all week. Bises!
I too am struggling to sew a sweater. Daunting. I have wondered about how to see better so THANKS for the headlamp photo. Bought those for my dad last Christmas, so I’m pretty sure one of those will be “lost” for a few days.
Yeah! I’m not the only one that knits in my house by headlamp!
headlamp pix should be on instagram – – it really made me smile!
headlamp pix should be on instagram – – it really made me smile!
A headlamp! Of course! Thanks for giving me something to ask for when my kids ask what I want for Christmas (not knowing I will also use it against them….)
Love the sweater!
I bet “forgetting” the headlamp was on and walking Olive down the street would be even better. Not that I’d, uh, intentionally torture my children or anything.
Sadly, I have had to resort to, not only the head lamp, but the magnafying glass that hangs around the neck.
Getting old kinda sucks sometimes.
OMG – I love the headlamp. I camp regularly so I always have my headlamp. With all the power outages these past few years in the NE, I’ve been thankful for my headlamp so I could continue knitting through hurricanes, fallen trees on power lines, etc. But I had never thought of it as an opportunity to embarrass my children. I love the way you think. Mwahahah!
OMG – I love the headlamp. I camp regularly so I always have my headlamp. With all the power outages these past few years in the NE, I’ve been thankful for my headlamp so I could continue knitting through hurricanes, fallen trees on power lines, etc. But I had never thought of it as an opportunity to embarrass my children. I love the way you think. Mwahahah!