It’s Greek Olympics day at Miss Butterfly’s school. We managed to put the toga together fairly well.

And she’s ready to win!

Yesterday Mr. Ink took a vacation day. And by that, we mean he took a vacation day, but then on Wednesday he had a big job come in and he couldn’t finish, so he went in on his vacation day to finish. It happens like clockwork. But, he also got our new car registered and took it back to the dealer to have them resolve a few things he felt should be resolved. The dealer went above and BEYOND his expectations in a big way and he says he feels very pleased with his overall experience. Which is great. Because if you work at a dealership, you have pretty high expectations. This did mean though, that he was home when I got home, so he suggested we take a nice long walk. It was awesome. Thus, I didn’t get much knitting done.

I did manage to finish my cowl, as it was so close to being done anyhow. But, it needed a wash and a block so I am saving that for another day. Let’s discuss sweaters instead! Yesterday I mentioned that I had an almost finished except for the sleeves sweater. I thought it over a bit, and then decided to pull out the sweater and make an  honest evaluation of what is stopping me from finishing this.

The pattern is Funky Grandpa. I was trying to use up yarn from my stash. The main color of the sweater is two strands of laceweight yarn held together in similar colors. Those are wool. The stripes are my handspun. I LOVE the body of this sweater so much! It’s bright and cheery and absolutely a thing I would wear.

Then I began the sleeve. I got pretty far actually, as you can see. But, that’s when I gave up. So, upon evaluating what made me give up, it’s because I hate the black sleeve. I don’t like the color. And I don’t like the fiber either. I shouldn’t have chosen a different fiber. It’s alpaca laceweight held double. I hate how it feels differently than the rest of the sweater. It also knits differently. And that’s probably why I quit.

But, the biggest issue is that I began the sweater with that black arm in mind. So you can see at the tops of the shoulder that it was started with that black yarn. So, I either have to leave it there and have that black yarn there while using a different yarn for the sleeve, or I have to find a way to replace that. I took an honest look at it yesterday, and I’ve determined that I should indeed be able to replace it. I’ll cut out what I have in there, picking up the live stitches on either side, and knit a small piece that belongs, out of the main color, and graft it back on. Then I’ll just knit the sleeves out of the main color, beginning some striping fun further down the sleeve, and ending with handspun. I’ve got plenty. I think it’ll work.

I thought about ripping out the entire thing. But, I studiously wove in every end after working the handspun stripe. Like a good knitter should. Ripping it out would be a travesty! Let’s see if I can save it!

I looked up when I started this thing. December 4, 2014. Ok then!