swatching
As I’ve learned the hard way a swatch is your friend. I’ve been swatching for the Saddle Shoulder Aran for Bryan and while I’m happy with the swatch. It wasn’t the most fun swatch to knit, which slightly disappointed me. It was a matter of too few stitches stretched on a circular needle, eventually I used the magic loop technique and I had a hard time keeping track of the cables since I hadn’t fully charted everything out.
The yarn looks beautiful, it’s Rowan Classic Yarns - Wool Tweed in Shetland (953). The swatch was also a great lesson in steeking, I’ve never done a steek before so I figured this was a great time to practice. It actually turned out quite well and I’m feeling pretty confident about my steeking abilities for the full sweater. It’s truly not as scary as I thought it might be. I’ve cut so many knitted pieces to lengthen or shorten them that the cutting part doesn’t scare me quite as much as it probably should.
Last week, Bryan and I traveled out to western Kansas to help my mother clean out my grandfather’s house. It was definitely an experience. My grandparents never threw away bills, receipts, tax returns or credit card statements. We found them going back to the 1950s. It was really amazing because it was all put away and out of sight. Every time we thought we were finished with a room, we’d find one more drawer that needed to be cleaned out. Nothing could be just thrown away because there were literally photographs tucked away everywhere. We found some real treasures in the house - a photo of my grandparents locked in a kissing embrace before they were married that looks like an art photo you’d buy, a darning egg, many buttons, old library cards from the 1950s and 60s (a treasure for a librarian), family photos we didn’t even know existed, a few Singer Featherweight machines and so much more. It was a real experience to clean out someone’s house. My mom needed to get the house cleaned out because she wanted to put it on the market, it sold while we were there.
During our travels, about 12 hours in the car each way, I started the Saddle Shoulder Aran Cardigan for Bryan. It’s coming along well and I’m definitely keeping track of the cable pattern better than I did in swatch.
