Take Two

After completing the first sleeve for the Artist's sweater, I completed the shoulder seam and fitted the sleeve into it - perfect! I was so excited I wanted to share this with my girl. She slipped the neckline over her head and held the un-seamed right shoulder together with her fingers. I held the left sleeve up to the left shoulder to show her how it would go together. Then I uncurled the rolls of stockinette-stitched sleeve and fitted it around her arm.

Oh no!


It's kind of tight.


Did I unroll it all the way?


I did! (Panic!)


It is too small.


"Well, honey, it is too tight. Will you help me unravel it so I can try again?" I sadly asked. It is most uncomfortable to unravel six colors of intarsia in a sleeve that turns out to be a little too narrow. At least I had not woven the ends in yet. Still, I knew, the next sleeve would have even more ends to weave in because now none of these pieces would be quite large enough. Oooooooh the frustration of that!

But once the six sad little balls of yarn were rewound I got more graph paper and plotted my corrections. Then I plugged away at the knitting in all my spare time. But the die was cast, I would not complete the fourth sweater by Labor Day's end. The Artist was blissfully unaware of my self-imposed missed deadline. Here it is in it's unfinished state. The second sleeve is just started on the needle here and the collar stitches have not been picked up yet. Of course, weaving in ends and seaming remain too.

In other news, the Artist got a kick paddle to help her practice her Tae Kwon Do with Daddy. It was a nice surprise for her. Then the Quipper and I had to take turns practicing kicks too. At least when he missed the paddle he was kind enough to kick the air. I kicked the poor man's hand. I can just imagine the look on my face when instead of hearing a resounding "Thwack!" I heard a surprised "Ouch!"