Clearing Away Winter

After my low-key birthday celebrations, hubby and I decided to clean away all the winter debris from our deck. The shining sun and warmth spurred us on: I moved garbage cans, broken toys, a broken table and a dried up Christmas wreath while hubby cleaned off his barbecue (see the pic above? Wish I had taken a "before" shot, but the photographic evidence of my messy and disorganized ways would have been too shameful--and I couldn't have that).

See the sweater I'm modeling. Remember the frogging of last week (or was it 2 weeks ago)? My Short-Sleeved Cardi with Ribbing no longer has ribbing (and of course it was never short-sleeved). I re-worked the bottom portion in plain stockinette to the length specified in the schematic (approx 23-24 inches). When I compared it to another cardigan in my closet, the length seemed just right. The sleeves were a dilemma: I struggled over whether to keep the ribbing or frog those too. After a few try-on's, I decided to leave the sleeves. All in all, it's not bad. At this point, I just want to finish this project because (a) it's been on the needles a long time and (b) I really wanna wear it before summer finally arrives. Only the button bands need to be worked. I'm hoping to start those this evening after a nice BBQ supper--the first one is always the tastiest!

So, what has this entire experience taught me? A lot.

• Consider negative ease (it can be your friend)


• Compare your WIP to the schematic measurements


• Its okay to frog (I learned that from the Yarn Harlot)


• No one will arrest you if you re-work the pattern to suit your needs (its called "modifications")


• Remember that I'm still a fat girl and some design elements don't always work well on the pleasantly plump


• And I'm not as fat as I think I am