I haven't been wearing my Oregon Autumn Cardigan because I found the sleeves to be too short for my liking. You may remember from last week that I've been meaning to lengthen them without reknitting the cuff border section (although that was a lot of fun to knit.) With my Andean Chullo Hat is done, I was ready to tackle the project. I described the work on the first sleeve last week. This week I did the second one and try to get some better photos.
The first step was to pick up each stitch right below where I wanted to separate the two parts of the sleeve and then do the same right below the round I was going to remove.
Last week I missed a stitch and had to find where it was. I did better with the second sleeve. It's easier to do this if you can pick a round that's all one color/yarn. Fortunately, there was a solid round right between the last of the sleeve pattern and the top of the cuff border pattern. I pulled it out, stitch by stitch, checking to make sure the stitch I removed it from was securely caught with the waste yarn.
I worked the sleeve pattern down to the point where I had stopped on the other sleeve. With the first sleeve, I had worked in the pattern exactly as the sleeve pattern indicated, which meant there was one row with the gold color at the bottom of the motif I planned to end with. After I had the two pieces put together, I didn't like the little flecks of gold right above the border, so I stayed with the dark magenta and grey on the second sleeve. The arrow shows the row of gold stitches at the bottom of the motif I ended with.
To graft the two sections together, I turned the cuff section inside-out and stuffed it into the upper sleeve section, matching the BOR of each before grafting.
Here's how the sleeve looked after grafting.
Now I had two sleeves done, but they didn't match. I fixed that with a long strand of the dark magenta, running it through the bottom round of the sleeve section using a Swiss darning technique to replace the gold yarn with magenta. In between the replaced stitches, I caught the float before moving to the next stitch. Then I removed the gold yarn. It wasn't easy, but it worked, and I was happy with the new length. I hadn't blocked the project when I finished it the first time, so I decided it was time. It took me a hour to set up my wooly board, but that got done. I set it up in the guest bathroom, because the cardigan was still wet.
I was very happy with the results after blocking. The fit is better, and the new sleeve length is perfect. The cuff comes right to my wrist. I could move the buttons over. I sewed them on the button band at the same spot as each of the buttonholes. Maybe I should add an afterthought pocket....
The first clue for the Rose City Yarn Crawl Mystery Knit Along came out on Wednesday. There are some challenges. First of all, the chart has the MC (main color) in light and the CC (contrast color) in dark. My color choices are the opposite. I've had that problem before, so I can cope. I chose to use these two skeins from my stash.
I had to order another one of the darker one from the place where I had bought it. The lighter color was a gift. Another challenge is the darker color is present from time to time in the lighter skein, so the pattern isn't always obvious. I actually like that effect, though, so I'm not worried about it. Then there's the gauge issue. I went down a needle size for my swatch and got gauge, but when I got ready to cast on, I couldn't find a circular needle long enough in that size. Considering that a shawl doesn't have to fit, I decided to use what I had, which was the size the designer used. Then I was puzzled by the two charts in the pattern. I figured out that one was for the right side and one for the left side. Then it made sense. I printed two new copies, each on one side of the paper and taped them together, so I wouldn't have to keep flipping them back and forth. Finally, another issue came up. In the chart, the KFB (knit front and back in the same stitch) and the KYOK (knit, yarn over, knit again in the same stitch) are not colored. They are always worked with the yarn currently being used, so that was a quick adjustment of the brain.
We had a Madroña Vineyards pop-up meeting on Tuesday. We enjoyed a Madroña 2024 Chardonnay with salmon burgers.
My ALS 50 Mile Challenge is continuing to proceed, and I'm on track to finish. When I hit 26 miles on Monday, someone pointed out that I had walked a marathon. It only took me 12 days! The weather has gotten cold. Sunday we had tiny snowflakes. It made the bushes and twigs pretty.
On the personal ALS front, David now has an iPad he can control with his eyes. This should make it a little easier to deal with the boredom of sitting all day. Soon he will be exchanging his recliner for a hospital bed. The logistics of moving the furniture is a challenge. They won't bring the bed until there's a place to put it. Davit will have to sit in the wheelchair while they're moving the recliner out and the bed in. They're thinking of moving the couch to the wall with the window and using the other wall for the head of the bed.
My eyes are also in the news. I had my first cataract surgery on Thursday at Bend Surgery Center.
When they got me into the operating room and my doctor was ready to start, I told him, "I guess you've done this before." His response was, "I watched a few YouTube videos last night."
It went well, and I can already see better with my left eye. I chose to have it corrected to stay nearsighted, so I can read without glasses using that eye. I had some significant astigmatism in that eye, too, so I needed to pay extra for a special lens. My ophthalmologist checked me on Friday, and everything looks good. I have to wear a shield over that eye to sleep or nap, and I have to put drops in several times a day. I can still use my driving glasses to drive, because they were made to correct for my very nearsighted left eye and slightly nearsighted right eye, which hasn't changed yet. The astigmatism correction in the left lens of my driving glasses doesn't affect my vision enough to be a problem. I'm also able to use my laptop and phone without glasses, although I use reading glasses if I'm in bed with the shield over my left eye, because the shield distorts my vision, and I need the correction to read with the right eye.
This blog post has contained a lot of technical stuff, so here's some cuteness: Sandy, relaxing in his bean bag chair.
I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry, BlueSky or Spoutible if you need information.
If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon or B&N and search for Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart". Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil, Mariah, Classic Tales Retold, Our Favorite Verses, More Classic Tales Retold or Billy: Stories from The Doll's Storybook, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.
Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.
What's on my iPhone: Finished Nobody's Girl by Virginia Roberts Giuffre on the AudiobooksNow app. It was difficult to listen to in long stretches, partly because of the topic and partly because of my hearing aid problem. It was well worth the listen, though. Now back to The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, also on theAudiobooksNow app.
What's on my sewing machine: Still put away.
What's in The Doll's Storybook: Mariah discovers Pippa going through the medicine cabinet in The Writer's bathroom, and they have a discussion about why she shouldn't touch anything she finds there in What's Behind the Door?
What's my tip of the week: I like to keep my place on a knitting chart using Lee Products Highlighter Tape, which can be pulled off and reapplied repeatedly. (In this case, there were two charts: one for each side of the shawl with a double increase between them, so I taped the two charts together using regular tape.)
Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog, and they are reproduced in print with a few changes.
If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less, only 8%, because the vendor gets a cut. My author's page at Book Baby is here. Scroll down and click on any of the books that interest you. Find my books at Barbara's Bookstore as well, or ask your local library to order the books.
Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.
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