Ibenholt Off the Needles!

Greetings, and Dear Cynthia,

First, thank you Johanna for de-lurking and leaving your nice comment! I very much appreciated both hearing that you went back to school when your youngest went to kindergarten AND your encouragement for me. We're practically neighbors! I hope that I have a chance to meet you at the Sow's Ear sometime! Also, I'm taking it under advisement that it will be helpful to continue knitting throughout my school years to reduce the stress :-)

Second, I'm glad to hear that the baby bootie pattern is already in use (you go girl, Marit!), and that it does not "look like crap," a statement which made me laugh out loud when I read it on Lauren's blog.

Third, I went to "last Saturday knitting" (Johanna - hint hint) this past weekend, and cast OFF on the collar of Ibenholt. (Great fun, that Last Saturday knitting! Nice, nice bunch of ladies!)

Next I worked the "Front Plackets." If you've ever made a Dale of Norway sweater, then you are familiar with their somewhat, er, "unprolific" style of giving directions. Here is a spippet from the directions for the front plackets:

• ....pick up sts K-wise. Working back and forth, beg with a WS R and C OFF K-wise.

When I read through that the first time, I was sure that there had to be some steps missing; certainly I wouldn't pick up stitches and then turn around and cast them off again on the next row. However, I blindly did what was asked, and really am quite pleased with how the finished edge looks all the way up the front of the sweater. The zipper does *not* extend into the collar, though with the edge worked in this way, it all fits together nicely and looks good:Now all that remains is the weaving in of 13 more ends (don't know why I count, but it's what I do during dreaded tasks), the blocking, and the "sewing in" of the sleeves and zipper into the body of the sweater. (This means that I'll be embarking on the "great zipper hunt" in the next day or two. I hope I don't have to settle for black, though the photo in the pattern shows a natural colored sweater having a zipper which might be black with metal teeth -- I might try to find one with coil teeth... Ah, decisions....)

So, do you have big plans for Labor Day? First I'm going grocery shopping; then some more home organizing. I actually made some progress on getting things put in order before school starts, and I should try to capitalize on the "momentum" I had yesterday and really get some things done.

It is the first day of school tomorrow for the boys and me... I think we're all happy to be going back to school, and that's a good place to be.

Have a great Labor Day!
Warm regards,
Laura (YarnThrower)