Rescued!

A giant Thank You to all who responded to my stash issues/yarn diet post the other day.  I wanted to to reply to each of you individually but once again, life got in the way.  Our oil furnace went beserk, the house filled with noxious, throat burning fumes, we had to evacuate and the fire department had to come to our rescue.  We made it out safely, the furnace is our secondary heat source so we're still warm, the house didn't burn to the ground and everything is okay.  But it did set the tone for the day and in reality, it was sort of the highlight of the day.

Charles City Fire and Rescue

I'm just glad we were here because my MIL had no idea anything was wrong.  It could have been an unimaginably horrible situation.  The firemen were fantastic and we very much appreciated their help and friendliness even though Grandma failed at her attempt to get one of them to propose to my daughter.  Grandma has decided Sarah needs to find herself a man.

Thank you, Charles City Fire and Rescue!

Thankfully the day's events wore out Grandma, she went to bed early, and I was able to hide out in my attic yarn stash closet and finish the Newborn Vertebrae.

Finished Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan

I even blocked it!

My apologies if this entire post is blurry or the colors are off.  I'm sitting in a Dunkin Donuts using the internet and being blinded by the sun streaming in through the window.   

.... And I just realized I'm still wearing my sunglasses, not my reading glasses.  No wonder I'm having so much trouble.  

I swear!  Dementia is contagious! 

Wowza!

Apparently I've forgotten how to purl.

I'm embarrassed to even show the finished Newborn Vertebrae sweater.  For once I'm happy the photo is blurry and taken in bad lighting.  The shadows and blurriness help hide the flaws.

How could I botch something so simple, so badly?  Apparently I've forgotten how to purl.

When I think back to most, if not all my 2019 projects, they've been either stockinette in the round, flat garter or open lacework where the purl vs. knit gauge didn't matter that much.  But take a look...

Good grief!  Look at the difference between the body of the sweater knit flat and the sleeve knit in the round.  

Good stinking grief!

I need to go back to beginner's knitting class.

So, this little sweater will be saved for those days when the laundry hasn't been done in two weeks, baby is extra spitty, and they don't leave the house. 

Good grief!

#gaugematters

Well, I'm shaking my head over my Newborn Vertebrae cardigan.

Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan

I'm going to have to find a very fat teddy bear to wear this little sweater, because it ain't so little.  Unless the newborn is dinosaur sized there's no way it would come close to fitting a human.  It just goes to show you how much gauge matters.  Betsy, a fellow knitter showed me hers, and hers is literally half the width of mine.  She's a tight knitter and used a US 4 needle and I'm a loose knitter and used a US 3.

Oh well,  I'm going to go ahead and finish it since all I have left is the tiny (yeah, right!) sleeves and the ribbed edging.  It will be good practice because I hear picking up the stitches for the edging can be tricky.  Plus, I'm sure I can find some kind of short, fat stuffed critter that it will fit.

And yes.  Yes, I am bundled up in a fleece blanket with Christmas designs on it.  It's hot outside but it is Freezing in our house today.

Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan

Newborn Vertebrae Cardigan

Wow!  That photo looks so much better on my phone than it does here on the blog.

I'm still awaiting the baby-appropriate yarn shipment.  According to the tracking, it's caught up somewhere at the post office.  Damned postal service!

Meanwhile, I'm using some scrap yarn to knit a Newborn Vertebrae cardigan.  The green may not be 'pastel' exactly, but it was available and the baby is due in March.  He/she will need to celebrate his/her Irish heritage with a St. Patrick's Day sweater.  

The pattern is super simple and I can't wait to find out the baby's sex so I can knit a few more in the appropriate colorway.