Not a spinning update.

I'm making stuff for myself this year, but I decided back during the planning phase that once-in-a-lifetime events got a dispensation. Well, after seven or so years together, one of my good knitting friends is now engaged to her lovely chap. The wedding is in September and I have knit her a shawl. But wait, I hear you say, surely if she's a knitter she could knit her own shawl? Well, she could, were it not for two things. First, she's submitting her Master's degree thesis just days before the wedding. Second, she's having a bouquet of knitted flowers that she's busily knitting herself, assisted by our knitting group!

So I knit a shawl. :D

Pattern is Leaf Lace from Evelyn Clark's Knitting Lace Triangles. I knit 14 repeats of the lace and added beads to the points at G's request. I'm quite happy with the results. So is G, thankfully!

Oops.

Dear Blog,

I am very sorry I have been neglecting you. Let me assure you, it's not you, it's me. I shall endeavour to do better, and for now, let me try to sum up the craziness of my life over the last month.

First, I've been spending a ton of time on my postgraduate studies. They are going well; I've handed in another paper, made good progress on my group project, and am really enjoying the module on Systems Analysis and Design. Clearly, a life of being an information geek is the right choice for me.

Second, I've been up to my eyeballs with the SCA. Specifically, I've been co-cratting a major event. Three days, 150 attendees, and so busy I did not touch yarn for the best part of a week. There, there, blog, it's ok, I'm better now.

There has been fiber in my life over the past four weeks, fear not. First of all, some lovely parcels! I received the final installment of the 2009 Tsock Club - The Abbey. It has gargoyles and flying buttresses. Isn't the yarn pretty?

What's that? Not yarn, you say? Why, blog, how observant of you! The Club's creators decided to try out something new with this shipment. Anyone who wanted to could swap their yarn out for superwash spinning fiber so that one might Tspin one's Tsocks. And for a small extra charge, the junkies yarn nuts out there could have both yarn and fiber. You can probably guess which option I went for.

Included in this shipment was a bar of handmade herbal soap, which smells divine, and a bag of herbal moth repellant. And since Jennifer is a sweetheart about such things, neither soap nor moth repellant contains lavender, to which I am allergic.

There's more yarn in my life, too. Dee and Tony did the impossible - they dyed the perfect red yarn. I may have broken the yarn diet, but my only regret is not buying more of the yarn while it was available. I also scored a skein of gorgeous lavender-and-pink cobweb-weight, 'cause I really needed more of that in my stash.

What's that? Where's the knitting? Oh, there's been knitting too, and spinning, but if I tell you about everything at once I'll have nothing to tempt you back with!

Hugs and kisses,

Your Knitting Fiend

New yarn, but still Cold Sheeping*...

This year I'm attempting to knit up stash without buying new yarn. The current goal is to make it to Knit Nation without purchasing any yarn at all. I realized today that it's been three and a half months since my last purchase - go me! However, I have acquired a wee bit of yarn recently.

First up, a Christmas present from my lovely friend S, she of the crocheted wedding dress. She found me three hanks of gorgeous lavender Louet Gems, which I'm planning to turn into a lace scarf. Isn't it pretty?

On the same day, I received a parcel in the post. It was Tsock 5 from the Flock Sock Tsock Club! This one is based on the fairy tale The Ice Queen. It has beads on, which will be an interesting adventure. I've never put beads on socks before.

The Ice Queen wasn't the only thing in the parcel, however. One of the funky things about this particular club is that sometimes random members of the club get a visit from the Yarn Fairy. This comes in the form of a one-off skein of yarn or braid of spinning fiber. I got a visit! The Yarn Fairy brought me a stunning skein of sock yarn in the exact colour of lilac blossoms. It's going to be fun finding a pattern to suit the colour. I'm thinking something with fiddly lace and cables, since the semi-solid yarn will show them off nicely.

*Cold Sheep is like Cold Turkey, but for yarn instead of booze. You just stop shopping.

Last of the gifts

Here's a quick rundown of the last of my holiday gifts! In no particular order:

Mum's Tropical Fishbel


Pattern is the Ishbel Shawl by Isolde Teague. Yarn is Colinette Jitterbug in Jewel.

The blanket of squares


Millions of granny squares, finally finished!

Mitts for my friend J


Pattern is Knucks from Knitty, yarn is a 4-ply alpaca.

A washable shawl for my grandmother


Pattern is Shetland Triangle (surprise!) and the yarn is an aran-weight wool/acrylic blend.

Finally, mum's Christmas socks


Pattern is Broadripple from Knitty, yarn is the delectable Mirasol Hacho. Used two balls exactly.

Hurrah! Another gift gifted!

Which means more photos!

I've done all of my mailing for the year, so I can now show off the two things that have arrived thus far and been opened. My lovely knitty friend H, who moved to Bristol earlier this year, is a bit of a Studio Ghibli nut. And so ages ago (about two years!) I promised her that I would crochet a Totoro, since she doesn't really crochet. I finally finished it and sent it off, and I swear, you could hear the squee from London!

Yarn was some random DK-weight arylic that the spouse found when I sent him to buy "a ball of Totoro-coloured yarn", plus some white scraps I had left over from Christmas stockings two years ago. The eyes are little black beads. He's incredibly cute, so much so that spouse is now petitioning for one of his own.

H also got a couple of skeins of handspun yarn in her favourite colour. As a knitter and handspinner, I feel it is my duty to pass on a love of handspun to all my knitting friends, so how could I refrain from sending H her first ever handspun yarn?

A wee bit more shopping

Just realised I'd never posted my haul from the Knitting and Stiching Show! Or in fact blogged about it at all - oops!

I was unexpectedly able to attend this year, which meant that my shopping budget was rather limited. I think I did a good job of being restrained. Only three needlework things and the obligatory chocolate for my spouse. (It's his reward for cooing over yarn and FOs and not complaining about the shopping!)

Two kits were the main focus this year. First, a knitting kit that I've been lusting over ever since I laid eyes on it a few years ago - Sanquhar gloves. I've chosen mulberry as my colour and a pale grey for the neutral contrast. If you can't see from the photo, these are stranded laceweight gloves knitted on 1.5mm needles. I may be mad, but they will be gorgeous once they are made up!

Second, a beautiful kit to make a goldwork holiday ornament. I've wanted to learn goldwork for a long time, but the materials cost has always put me off - especially since I might end up not liking the technique. A small kit for something pretty is perfect. The designer does a range of goldwork kits, but this ornament series are designed as teaching tools. Thus, they've got small areas of most of the usual techniques used with precious metals. And the kits come in silver, too!

The weekend wasn't all shopping, though. A very dear Ravelry friend, SD, had come over from Iceland to visit the show and she came over to have dinner with us. It was lovely to get to meet her in person after years of online correspondence, and we had a fab evening of spinning and gossiping and delicious food. SD was after a spinning lesson, so I gathered my paltry skills and taught what I knew. It seems to have taken, as she's been spinning up a storm since returning home!

Generous soul that she is, SD also brought me some beautiful gifts. Bags of Icelandic fleece and yarn (hello, felted slipper-socks!), some mystery roving in stunning shades of sea glass green, and a treasure of a gift. This is handdyed spinning fiber done by another Posh Knitter, who has his own online fiber shop. SD gave me her double batch of one of his club offerings because it's my favourite colours. Needless to say, I was a bit blown away!

Oops!

Nearly a fortnight between posts, naughty me. I've been busily knitting away on Christmas gifts. And this morning I enrolled on a part-time MA programme! Between those things, and the fact that term starts on Monday at my workplace, well, I've been kinda busy. :D

I finished up a scarf for a friend last night. No pics just in case, even though I'm 99.99% certain she doesn't even know I have a blog. The squares project is moving along nicely. The remaining gifts are doing well, so much so that I've added in another gift to my list. Optimistic, moi? Still, it'll be nice to get all the gifts done and delivered so I can get on with some other things!

I've been taking advantage of the new year feeling I always get in September to have a good sort out. Lots of domestic projects like cleaning out closets and finally getting around to lining our bedroom curtains for warmth and darkening. (Well, I've gotten as far as buying the fabric, anyway...) And I spent a goodly chunk of the afternoon going through my stash, tidying up, sorting and making sure it was all on Ravelry with pictures. Quite a few things had snuck past the camera, but it's all up there now. And I feel like I'm ready to go back to finishing projects.

change of plans

Christmas knitting. All the time. That's pretty much all I'm doing right now. I sat down and worked out exactly what I need to do to get it all done, and there's a lot. I will try to have interesting things up as and when I can, but quite a few of the recipients read the blog and we can't have spoiled surprises!

Ruined forever

My foot's feeling better, so I thought I'd get Roy out and spin up some packets of sample fibers this evening. I chose to start with a 5g bag of dehaired camel. Yum. And then I fished out a 5g bag of pure cashmere. I don't know if I'm ever going to be able to spin anything else again. It was like spinning with butter. Or possibly the underbelly fur of the softest longhaired cat. Softer than angora. With practice I suspect I could get a really nice laceweight out of it, but it's insanely expensive!

Ah well. Fortunately for me, the friend who gave me lots of her yarn when she moved also gave me three big bags of fiber. One's a mystery, but there's one of merino/silk and one of merino/cashmere! Not much cashmere, but enough that it's still like spinning butter.

Flashbacks - more embroidery

In addition to the small projects floating around, I've also finished a fair few big projects. These two are among my favourites. Just plain cross-stitch, but I love the colours.

A trio of cats, my first big finished piece:

A birth sampler:

This one is very special. I made it for my mother a few years ago for her birthday. You see, I'd discovered that although she's made many birth samplers over the years for lots of babies, no-one had ever made one for her! I picked this one out because she's very into astrology. I spent hours poring over astrological charts to work out the details. Thankfully my grandmother keeps the family birth certificates or I'd never have gotten the time details in secret! It came out quite nicely, I think, although the designer didn't leave much space for the words - I had to rechart a section of it.

Socks for Boys!

Well, one Boy in particular. Here are the pale ankles and newest socks belonging to my dear spouse:

A pair of Thuja socks, knit with exactly one skein of Wool-Ease Worsted. I've said it before, I know, but this is my absolute favourite yarn for heavy socks. The wool content makes it warm and bearable to knit with, and the acrylic content makes it wear like rocks. I'm still not letting him wear the socks unless he's trimmed his nails, though!

This pattern is great fun. I was concerned it was going to be dull, but it really isn't. The seed-stitch rib livens things up a bit. It also makes it really easy to make the socks match - you just count the purl bumps in the ribs! It always pleases my inner obsessive when I can make the socks match perfectly. Spouse'd probably like slightly longer cuffs, but he says these are fine, so I can satisfy my love of using up all the yarn and only buy one ball. Now that I have these as a sample for foot length, I can just work from both ends at once and make future pairs toe-up.

There's a three-day weekend coming up for May Day. I plan to indulge in lots of fibery goodness, because although sunshine is predicted, it's the peak of hayfever season for me and I'll need to be indoors. Darn, all that spinning and knitting time. :D

One of the planned activities is working on my new hat. Ages ago I bought a single skein of chunky purple tweed because I loved the colour. I'd an hour before leaving for work and after finishing the socks this morning, so dug through my imminent stash bag for a new project. The purple just jumped out at me! It's going to be a very basic top-down hat and should work up in a few hours.

I'm also hoping to make good headway on the powder blue fiber I've been spinning for the last few weeks. It's the stuff I bought at iKnit Day last year - I'd like to knit something with the finished yarn to wear this year! I Navajo-plied a sample to see how it would look, and it came out as a lovely fingering weight. Perfect for yet another shoulder shawl, in other words. I hope I have enough yarn when it's spin up.

A quick change of plans

I was planning to spend the next little while working on WIPs and Mission:Possible projects. However, I've just found out that one of my Ravelry friends is having a really bad time right now. A group of Posh Knitters are working to send her a care package, since she lives overseas and we can't go to hug her and give her cups of tea. My plan is to send something to warm head, hands and heart - a pair of mitts, a Calorimetry, and some lovely hot chocolate mix and a teddy bear. Just little things, but hopefully enough people sending 'just little things' will help her know that there are people thinking of her.

Yarn and needles ready, and I'm off!

FO - Yo! Drop It Scarf

During my lunch hour today I finished up the last few repeats of the drop-stitch I've been working on recently. For such a simple project, it's prompting a lot of discussion in my head.

Pattern - Yo! Drop It Scarf from Stitch 'n' Bitch Nation
Yarn - RYC Natural Silk Aran, three skeins
Needles - 9mm plastic straights

First up, the yarn. I've had photos of this yarn up on the blog before in a couple of different guises. It was a pair of mittens at one point; before that it was a Branching Out Scarf. It also went through some other patterns that I ripped out before even photographing. This yarn is not good for me. It splits and has poor stitch definition. Additionally, each of the three skeins had more bits of plant in it than every other ball of yarn I've knitted put together. It was half price when I bought it, but I'd've been pretty peeved to have spent that much time picking out burrs from full-price Rowan yarn. Because it's a blend of fibers, it also didn't take up the dye evenly. Not necessarily a bad thing, but to my eye it looked odd in anything other than garter stitch. Still, thanks to the linen content it drapes really nicely.

The pattern is a basic garter stitch scarf with some elongated stitches thrown in. It was written for ribbon yarn, but works just as well for a regular yarn in my opinion. I'll probably keep it in my repertoire as an alternative to my neverending parade of garter stitch scarves. :D I used slightly bigger needles than called for, simply because I had 9mm and not 8mm ones already in my needle collection. The look is still the same!

It took me just under two weeks to complete this scarf. I've been knitting a bunch of other things around it, though. Total knitting time was probably in the region of 10 hours. If I drape the scarf over my neck at its midpoint without wrapping it, it touches the floor on both sides. Loosely wrapped three times gives a nice cowl and it reaches my knees. (I'm 5'6'', for reference!)

Final verdict - lovely pattern, shame about the yarn. One more Mission:Possible project done!

PS - Mum, the yarn is lovely to touch and wear, it's just not fun to knit with! I promise I'm not offloading a bad scarf.

Blown away

On the evening I went to see S for the final dress fitting, she handed me an envelope, along with a very definitive statement that she was not to be argued with! Inside was a gift certificate to Loop, our favourite LYS and the source of all the yarn for the dress. Incredibly generous and totally unexpected! I had told her that making the dress was going to be my gift to her, but she says that she hadn't realized how many hours of labour it was going to take. We both got a bit weepy at that point, although the perry we'd been drinking might have had something to do with that too. :)

She'd timed it well, as that very Sunday I'd been planning a trip to Loop for a book launch. Cookie A, designer of my beloved Monkey socks, as well as the Poms and many other gorgeous designs, has just brought out a book of new sock designs. I couldn't miss meeting her and looking at the sample socks she'd brought, and with S's gift to me I didn't feel guilty shopping when I'm supposed to be saving money.

I got the book. It's called Sock Innovation, and has pages and pages of great patterns, beautiful photography and fabulous instructions on sock construction. Cookie A was charming and graciously signed my book, even checking the spelling of my name, and allowed me to pick her brains on sock ribbing. Plus the owner of Loop baked chocolate chip cookies and oatmeal raisin cookies. Yum!

Loop have recently started stocking KnitPro knitting needles as well. I was tempted by the interchangeable set, but then sense struck me and I remembered that I don't really like circular needles. I also remembered that I needed a few more sets of sock needles as well. So, the Harmony DPN set followed me home too. I haven't tried them out yet, but they are beautiful. And they come in sets of 6 needles in case one gets broken!

The final purchase of the day was sheer indulgence. I've often lusted over beautiful and pricey yarns, but ultimately bought more sensible and economic ones instead. Not that day. S wanted me to enjoy myself, so for once I bought the gorgeous, expensive, frivolous yarn that I've petted so many times in the past. Two perfect skeins of Handmaiden Lace Silk in the colourway 'Stardust'. Blue, silver, black, grey... More than any colourway I've ever seen, this yarn is me.



When it grows up, this yarn is going to become a Laminaria Shawl. I've pored over that pattern countless times and have never found a worthy yarn for something that pretty. Now I think this is going to be the perfect marriage of pattern and yarn. For the time being, though, I'm just going to pet my amazing yarn and be happy that it's finally mine.

Thank you, S. Your generosity has made this knitter very, very happy. And it was a privilege making your dress.

It's like visiting an old friend

As I've said before, too much crochet hurts my wrists. So, if I'm having a big marathon session on, say, a wedding dress, I have to stop periodically so I don't injure myself. During these little breaks, I generally knit. After all, the two activities use the arm muscles differently!

This weekend I decided to pick up my moccachino shawl. I'd done the first chart a while back and then put it down to focus on Christmas and other gifts. I picked it up on Friday evening and after a quick peek at the chart was sailing away. I'm halfway through repeat 4 of 10. My fingers seem to remember how to work the lace, and the fact that I'm using the same yarn as the last time makes it even more familiar. I don't expect to finish this in the week I took for the last one, but I have high hopes of a new shawl to wear by the end of February!

I should have added some details to my last post. The wedding sampler was worked by my amazingly talented mother. I can't remember a time when she hasn't been working on some form of embroidery or sewing, and she is a very big part of why I love needlework so much. Thanks Mum! You rock! The embroidery itself is about 18 inches by 12 inches or thereabouts. It's hanging in pride of place in our living room.

I missed Delurking Day, but wanted to thank everyone who comments and reads. I still can't figure out how to reply to comments, but I do read them and appreciate people taking the time to write. This was never intended to be anything other than a 'note-to-self' blog! :D

The people for whom I knit

There seems to be a general assumption that knitters make things primarily for other people. Perhaps because of the steroetypical mental image of the doting grandmother churning out mittens and sweaters and christening robes for their grandchildren, perhaps not. There is also a fair degree of criticism aimed at knitters who knit for themselves, which is rather unfair in my opinion. After all, most people who have creative hobbies don't do it to make gifts for others, they do it for themselves.

Probably half of what I make is for me, and the rest is gifts, intentionally or otherwise. (Sometimes projects just belong to someone else even if they weren't supposed to!) The biggest difficulty for me is balancing the time I spend on each kind of knitting.

My mother is certainly my favourite person to knit for. She likes lots of different kinds of knitwear, and is knowledgeable enough about textiles to be able to tell me exactly what she does and desn't like. She also has similar taste to mine in many things, which means that knitting things for her is fun and not a form of purgatory. (Dr Who Scarf, anyone???) Consequently mum gets most of my knitted gifts. In fact, I have an entire carrier bag full of yarn that is all destined to become mum projects!
My grandmother is a fun person to knit for as well. I haven't knitted much for her yet, but she's loved it all. The trouble with knitting for grammy is that she lives in the South, where it never really gets cold enough for proper knitting...

Various friends get odd things, when I feel like it mostly. I've got a couple lined up for the next few months, including the Holy Grail of yarnery - a crocheted wedding dress. That needs to be finished ASAP, so I'll be spending a lot of my Christmas holiday working on it. I'd like to have it completely done by the end of February at the latest so that the Mother-of-the-Bride has plenty of time to assemble and sew in the lining fabric. (My dressmaking skills are not up to improvising a dress lining, sadly.) And quite a few friends will barter with me. That's rather more satisfying, because I like it when people realize exactly how many hours of my life have gone into making garment x.

My little brother, dearly though I love him, will not be getting my knits. His taste in sweaters is even more boring than mine, he doesn't wear hats, scarves, gloves or mittens, doesn't use anything that requires a cozy, and would destroy a pair of socks faster than I could knit them. Perhaps someday if he decides he needs an ironic teacozy, I'll make him one. Although he was talking about a felted slipcover for his flatscreen TV...

And then there is my husband. Bless him, he loves my needlework. Wears all the garb that I sew for him, thinks my granny square cushion is the best and wants another one, is convinced that socks are too clever for words and doesn't mind the yarn stash. He'd love lots of my knits to wear all the time. Which is great, don't get me wrong. Socks? Fine - we have the same sized feet, so it's no worse than knitting for myself. And he likes hiking socks, so I can make them with worsted instead of fingering. Scarves? He wears the one I crocheted back when we were dating every winter and loves it. He doesn't really need another one. He doesn't wear hats, which is good because his head is enormous. He doesn't do gloves or mittens, although I keep finding patterns for colourwork mittens that he squees over.
No, the problem with my husband is the sweaters. He loves sweaters. He generates a lot of body heat, so will often be running around in winter with just a pullover while I'm shivering in a coat, hat and scarf, so he needs lots. Trouble is, he's a natural fibers man. I made the mistake of picking up some dress shirts once that were a poly/cotton blend and he wore them exactly once before ditching them in favour of some horrifically expensive 100% cotton ones. This would be fine if he didn't wear a L/E-L in sweaters - that much wool is expensive! Plus, it's really hard to find superwash wool in a worsted weight, and I refuse to handwash his sweaters, since they need washing so often.
There's just one other issue. I've married someone who seems to be the only spouse in the entire world of knitting who LOVES really complex Aran sweaters. This would be wonderful, if only I liked knitting cables! They are gorgeous to look at, but so tedious to knit. I showed him a very stylish sweater with a sigle panel of thin cables up the centre - "It's too plain, couldn't you make me one with lots of plaited cables?" Kudos to him for knowing what a plaited cable is, but yeesh!

Ah well. I love him dearly and wouldn't swap him for anything. I will knit him a sweater one of these days, but for now - he's getting a stockinette stitch iPod cozy for Christmas.

Progress

I finished the purple hat last night. It's blocking, although I really need a bigger plate to stretch it over! I still have quite a lot of the yarn left, so I may be able to get a second hat out of the same skein. I'm really pleased with the pattern - it knits up much more quickly than I was expecting, especially since I was knitting the larger version!

Still no darning needle. I really need to go get one, but it's a question of finding the time!

I cast on for another Christmas present this morning, but it's a secret...

Christmas swaps are fun!

I'm really enjoying coming up with creative ways to spoil my swappees, but it makes for rather boring blogging - I can't tell you what I'm getting/making in case they read about it!

I can mention the new hat I've started. It's a present for my mum's best friend. A lovely deep purple, and happily I had the requisite circular needle to start immediately! And I went shopping this morning to get the other needles I need for my holiday knitting, so feeling quite pleased about that. Halloween Monkeys continue apace. I'm knitting the toe of number one this evening, and will be taking number two with me for the weekend. (Reenactment events tend to allow lots of time for crafting.)

Sock progress, indeed knitting progress in general, has be somewhat delayed by the disappearance of my darning needle. Not a major incident, one might think, but This was a special darning needle. I used it to sew in the ends on my very first knitting project, and all subsequent projects! I've had it for years now, and suddenly it decides to disappear. Very annoying. And this morning the yarn shop was sold out of darning needles, so I'll have to wait until Sunday at the earliest to buy new ones at the sewing shop. Grrrrr.

Sick of lists yet?

I've concluded that because I'm about to go on holiday my brain has gone into overdrive when it comes to list-making. I think it's because it's the only way to still the voice of panic saying things like "No, wait, it's not really Tuesday!" or "You didn't print out your ticket!" or "Go buy a new toothbrush!" or my personal favourite "Must not fall asleep! Might miss flight!". This despite the fact that I'm not leaving for TWO MORE DAYS!

So, listy listy listy to silence the voice.

Still to do for Coronation, needlework-wise

• finish hemming veil (tonight and tomorrow)
• finish teal gown
• hem and embroider handkerchiefs
• make blue court tunic for the spouse (while at mum's)

Holiday needlework stuff

• all of the above plus
• make two pairs of garters for mum (working on the airplane)
• cast on for Anne-trelac socks on the 21st
• finish Odessa hat
• finish booties
• finish Calorimetry

Many things to do. Fortunately I have the day off tomorrow. Let's see just how much I can get done in the next 36 hours!

An evening of fun and a surprise

Last night was spent in the company of one of my best friends, who has recently discovered that she is a knitter. She had learned how to make the knit stitch about three years ago and made a red "thing", as she calls it, but never really got anywhere. Then quite recently a few mutual friends also took up knitting, and since I already was knitting as well, she stuck with it this time. And when she found out that two of her cousins were expecting babies, she went on a bit of a rampage! In the last 3 weeks, she has made enough squares of garter stitch to make a small baby blanket for the first baby.

The purpose of the meeting last night was so that I could teach her how to sew up the squares. I ended up teaching her how to make knots with a crochet hook, too, since some of the ends she'd left were a little bit on the short side. Oh well. She knows now!

Like any true knitting project, this blanket is a race against time. As of last night, there were three squares of fifty-six sewn together, and she still had 12 squares left to make. She's due to give the blanket to the doting parents on Saturday!

I spent my walk home last night thinking about my wardrobe, specifically things that I have and don't wear. A lot of my clothing doesn't get worn often because it's for a particular type of weather, or it's not suitable for work, or whatever. But there are some things that never get worn at all, and one of them was that pink sweater I made last year. I didn't like the way the shoulders and armholes sat on me, and the whole thing was a bit big. The only reason I was keeping it was because it was the first 'proper' sweater I ever made.

Well, knitting is made to be used. And it just so happens that I have a friend who's a bit bigger than me, with broader shoulders. Yep - knitting best friend is now the owner of my pink sweater! She tried it on, really liked it, it fit perfectly. So my wardrobe is now a little less overfull and a sweater has an owner who will wear it. I am pleased.