a finished sweater

First up: bloodwork results all came back good, except (as I expected) low on Vitamin D. Oh well. 

We were off campus AGAIN today; they're still working and have informed faculty and nonessential staff not to bother coming in tomorrow, or if you HAVE to come in, not to turn on your campus computer. Apparently this was a BIG incident; they said on the news a third-party group has been brought in to help.

So anyway.

I had THOUGHT of doing something today while I was off but literally every museum within a reasonable drive is closed Mondays, as are most small shops (And I don't want to go to another chain store; no need to). 

So instead, I got out the "compressible bags" (like Space Bags but not that name brand) I had bought (and yeah, later picked up more midday when I went out to get milk) and sorted and moved most of my yarn stash from the plastic tubs it was in to compressible bags.  

You can't overfill them, I learned that. And if the bag itself gets snagged (one of the ones I had sweater-sized portions of yarn in did), they won't stay compressed of course because the vacuum gets broken. But it seems a reasonable solution provided you don't leave the stuff in there for years and years, and because the bags are clear, I can see what I have. 

I sorted into rough categories: sock yarn, sweater yarn, toy yarn (one bag of that), shawl yarn (one bag of that), and "unassigned." I didn't really sort in the sense of "keep or pitch" but as I open a bag to start a new project I might look at the other yarn in it and take some to the local goodwill (or: a friend suggested asking at the Senior Center to see if anyone could use it). But at least the room is neater now, if not magazine-clean. It took me nearly all day and it was tiring.

I found maybe six or eight small projects' worth of yarn (a couple cowls, a hat, some mitts, and some sock yarn) I want to put back into the "start soon" queue so I didn't bag that up but I have it put aside in cloth bags with the patterns it will require. 

Tomorrow, I plan  to go to the Choctaw Cultural Center. I've never been to the museum part of it, just to the cafe (which is very, very good) and the prairie outside it. I've been told there's a lot of things to see so you can be there for several hours - my plan is to go around the time they open up and tour the museum, and then get lunch at the cafe and then go back and look some more at things if I don't feel I've seen everything I wanted to see.

 

On to the sweater. This is "A Cardigan for John," from the Sherlock Knits book (Joanna Johnson) that came out about a decade ago. I knit most of it in 2022 and into 2023, and then tucked it away because I dislike pickup up stitches for button bands just that much. 

But I finally pulled it out and did them, especially after the debacle with that long stalled shawl basically disintegrating as I knit on it. (The sweater was fine)

I finished it tonight

 It's made of 1824 Wool, from Mission Falls. I know it's no longer being produced, I don't know if Mission Falls is gone or not. The color, as I remember, was called Amethyst (though I think it's more of a mauve). I originally got it for a bigger, coat-type sweater that I decided after all I did not want, so I used it for this (I have some left over)

There are garter stitch details on the sleeves

 I special ordered some Celtic-triskelion style horse buttons for it

There's also a garter-stitch pocket that has buttons