De minnie-mus
You probably thought that with all the hurly-burly of the wedding and the move to the dream house that I had forgotten about Minnie. Confession: I did ignore her for a while. I had decided to do her sleeves from the top down, which was fine until I got to that motif that forms the bottom of the bell.
And then…whoa boy! Trouble. Long story short, Sean and I spent a good five hours puzzling over how to reverse the motif so that it could be knitted from the top down rather than the bottom up. Easier said than done.
We puzzled and swatched and puzzled and swatched. We cursed and swatched and puzzled some more. Cursed some more.
Finally we arrived at a reasonable facsimile:
If Sean hadn’t helped me out on this one, well… I had hit my wall for frustration well before we found the solution, but he persisted. So a big thank you goes to Sean!
Given that the first sleeve was an experiment, I was initially pretty happy with the results:
Although a couple of flaws convinced me to pull it out to the underarm and take another run at it. C’est la vie. I can’t bear to have the mismatching shoulder seams AND a semi-dud sleeve all in one disastrous sweater.
So staring down the barrel of frogging (and having been dragged through a frustrating problem-solving session), I put Minnie aside for a time while I pondered whether or not we could continue to be friends.
Now, however, I am working on the second sleeve:
My ultimate plan is to model the first sleeve on the second, which I feel will be more successful. Famous last words.
One thing has gone right with Minnie, though. Well, two. The beading and the recent acquisition of the perfect buttons:
How often do you get a match like that? Made in heaven.
I’m trying to love her, but I think it is going to take time to rebuild trust.
One final note regarding the upcoming nuptials…and you heard it here first, folks: if I never hear the phrase “your special day” again as long as I live, it will be too soon.
May 28th, 2007 at 9:02 pm
Wonderful buttons! I just love ’em!
May 28th, 2007 at 11:05 pm
The beads and buttons are a perfect match. Sorry the sweater has been giving you issues, but it looks like it’s all working out for you.
May 28th, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Minnie may be driving you nuts (er, you and Sean, rather – way to go, Sean, btw!), but she’s looking gorgeous with her beads and sleeves. And those buttons *are* perfect! I love them!
“Your [blank] [blank]”?? ::insert eye-rolling:: What, they’re talking to a two-year-old? It sounds like one of those really annoying euphemisms that litter our culture – you know, such as passed on instead of died. (I’ve always hated that one. Sheesh. I get so tempted to respond with something like, “Yeah, Mike was getting pretty worn-out looking, so I decided it *was* time to pass him on for recycling…”) Maybe you should start carrying one of your weights when you’re out discussing wedding plans. People might get so rattled they would use some plain speaking. [veg]
May 29th, 2007 at 5:26 am
I recently made an attemt at my first garment with sleeves. They looked all the world like the shriveled wings of mutant fruit flies. I took them off and am going to reconsistute my Basic Sweater for Beginners” to an even more basic waistcoat for beginner. So hats (sleeves?) off to you for your amazing sleeve.
May 29th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Your “sp^c#al” day? Hey, every day should be special! the beads and buttons are perfect. I’m properly impressed that you can concentrate enough to puzzle out an up-side-down sleeve pattern, and then frog it cause it just isn’t right. You and Minnie will be OK…