I've been very slack about photographing and posting my more recent projects. I've knitted several pairs of socks, make a few pairs of gloves and completed a vest for Brian and am currently working on a sweater for my mom-in-law.
"The Cursed Sweater"
Why I did not get the hint from the very get-go I do not know, but my attempt at making Brian a henley seemed cursed from the beginning. Perhaps the yarn I purchased for it (a sea blue-green heathered yarn) from Knit Picks was Wool of the Andes, an inexpensive, yet soft wool yarn. The pattern also came from Knit Picks and seemed simple enough.
Unfortunately, it took me several tries to actually understand the simplicity of knitting in fisherman's ribbing--for some reason I misunderstood the directions and had to make many attempts in order to finally realize that the stitch was, indeed, simple. That having been realized, I knitted along well enough for the majority of the body (knitting in the round so sleeves would be attached later as units). The next obstacle came about after I had knitted about 2-3 inches on the sleeves AFTER attaching them. I had inadvertently lost two stitches from one of the sleeves making it impossible to keep the correct count. I ripped everything out and ended up re-knitting BOTH sleeves, being unsatisfied with not only the shorted sleeve, but the one that did have the correct count. I had already knit and re-knit the first sleeve multiple times up to that point, and had become frustrated with ripping them out nearly daily.
Once this problem was solved, the sleeves properly knitted and attached, came the part I was dreading--the henley collar. At this point I had been knitting a "steek", or a space that would be eventually cut. From here there was no going back. Once the cut was made I could not rip the shoulders out and try again. Everything seemed to go well, until I actually started knitting the collar. It called for double strands of yarn, which made the collar very stiff. Moreover, the directions were a bit vague about buttonhold placement, which turned out to be too far over to the edge rather than well-centered. This could be overlooked, however. The sweater was completed and did not look so bad for all the trouble it had become.
Then, the final disaster. I thought that before buying buttons that I should wash it in cold water in the washing machine. I assumed that the cold water would not adversely effect the wool and I would lay it out to dry. I could not have been more wrong. The sweater felted--but not uniformly. Parts were still well-defined as knitted yarn whereas others were most discernably felted. The sweater resembled an oversized ameoba--it buckled and bulged, was stretched and shrunk. My efforts to overcome this cursed yarn, pattern, sweater were at last thwarted by my own hand.
It was just not meant to be.
After many weeks of leaving this monstrosity in the back room while I licked my wounds by knitting socks, I decided it was time to at least salvage what I could of the yarn. I managed to save about 4-5 balls of yarn from the sweater (that which had not been too felted or stretched). Using this, I decided to try to make a vest for Brian first and, if successful, proceed with the henley with a different yarn type at a different time. I did need to purchase about 4 more balls of the same color and being heathered, the dye lot did not make any real discernable difference. The vest went quickly, and although perhaps a bit larger than expected (I still haven't learned how to take stretch into account), B has a very nice vest. The yarn, it seems, did not want to become a henley, but a vest, one might surmise.
Although it was a pricey mistake, I have a better understanding about making a henley. I believe now, with perhaps a different yarn, I will attempt to knit this sweater in the future, but not with felting yarn--but maybe some superwash.
Was my first attempt actually cursed? Well, there is no telling and no quantifiably evidence. I can say that all of my mistakes were truly my own, yet it was as if the yarn was telling me something about what it wanted. And becoming a henley was not it. Fortunately, a second life was in the stars for the remainder of the yarn, and I feel as though I did succeed in something, even if not what I had originally intended.
Perhaps, the henley wanted to be grey, or black--and that might be what I do when the time comes.
More baby knits! But these were completed months prior. I've just been lax about getting them on the blog. You can see more additions at my 
From July 15 to July 19 Brian and I joined his parents for a celebration of their 50th Anniversary. They were kind enough to pay for the hotel room, most of our meals and a few gambling bucks (which we promptly gambled into that big Casino in the sky). We were really taken by the scenery and variety of "hidden" places that one could go to take in the awe-inspiring views and snap a few pictures at the same time.
It's not a very noticeable place. To this day we aren't in much agreement about how we "found" it. I say Brian suggested looking into it after an Internet search. He claims I'm the one who pointed it out and had him call the superintendent on a whim. Whatever the case might have been, we lucked out getting such and spacious apartment for the money.
