So far, no crying...

Dear Cynthia,

Things are going smoothly in "attaching sleeves to sweater land". At this point, I am halfway done attaching sleeves to the Hardangervidda. In other words, one down, one to go.

At the very top of these sleeves, the directions say to work in reverse stockinette for several rows, and this is what will become the facing which is sewn down on the inside of the sweater. I'm not sure my pictures and explanation will be coherent, but I'll try anyway. Here is a look at the reverse stockinette on the top of a sleeve:
However, before installing the sleeve into the sweater, I had to sew the shoulder seam. Following a small illustration in the pattern book, this was done with sort of an overcast stitch from the outside of the garment. It's true what they say about pictures, and being worth 1000 words... I think it looks nice, though will require blocking, because right now it doesn't lay very flat unless I'm holding it down in order to take a picture...Here's a snap taken when there were only a few inches more to go to finish sewing the sleeve in place. The part to the right of the tee pin is the sleeve already sewn to the sweater body. The part to the left of the tee pin shows the facing, which will be folded in as I stitch the purl bumps (from the first row of reverse stockinette at the top of the sleeve) to the sweater body. Once the sleeve is in place, I sewed the facing down to cover all of the raw edges on the inside. Doesn't it make a nice finish on the inside? It's tedious, and we all know how I feel about finishing work on sweaters, but I think it's worth the effort.And finally, the sleeve, completely installed:I have another one to install today... Then, hopefully tomorrow, I'll start working on the neckline and front placket...

Well, I'd better get lunch on the table. My four year old and I are going over to the school where my six year old is, because they are building gingerbread houses out of graham crackers and assorted candies today, and parents are allowed to participate, and my son's very nice teacher sent a note home to me indicating it would be okay to bring my four year old along...so that will be fun, or interesting -- hopefully both...

Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)