Managing Multiple Priorities

Dear Cynthia,

True to our "pact" to each complete the "finishing" of a sweater by Monday night, I sewed together the "Big A" sweater and it is ready for "game time" (birthday party for recipient this next weekend). Here it is being worn by an almost-six-year-old. The recipient is only four, but I always try to err on the side of "way too big" for kids.....

I bought this wonderful yarn for half price, which made it affordable for me - otherwise I never would have even considered this alpaca blend for a kids' sweater. While seaming it together, I was reminded of the words of one of my former knitting instructors about nice yarn yielding better results than crap yarn, particularly noticeable in the finishing. Here is a close-up shot of the side seam. I used mattress stitch, even through the ribbing, and the seam is barely detectable. As my knitting instructor told her students, it has little to do with skills as a knitter and a lot to do with the quality of the yarn. I started writing out the pattern for this sweater, and should have it posted in another week or two.....

My response to your question, "Why do we knit lace" (in the context of the difficulties we seem to be having with it) is, "I don't know." And, I find it horrifying that yesterday I found myself looking through magazines trying to find my next shawl project. I'm trying to put the brakes on that right now! Current status for Summer in Kansas is 331 out of 890 knitted-on-border rows completed. I've been achieving 20 rows per day, so I should meet my August 4th deadline. It seems like it is really taking a long time, and it has been hard for me to stay with it, but I'm really trying to be disciplined about it.

Finally, here at dishcloth central I am finishing up my 9th dishcloth from the original pound of Kitchen Cotton, and here is what is left of the yarn. (Updated counts are in the side bar in my finished objects section.) And so, I have a winner to announce in the "Guess how many dishcloths may be made out of one pound of Kitchen Cotton" contest. Lauren guessed ten, and no other responders guessed anything higher than that, so Lauren, please send me your snail mail address (feel free to use the brand new "e-mail yarnthrower" link on the side bar, which Cynthia installed over the weekend to make our addresses more accessible -- Thank you Cynthia!) and let me know if you'd prefer your dishcloth to be "Grandma's favorite" or of the pattern on the yarn package.

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)