half of pam

Looks kind of like an FO, at least this in this shot:

But in truth, it’s only half the cardigan. And none of the ends are sewn in; I’ve merely tucked them aside for the photos.

I’m getting there, though, and I’m home sick today so I hope to be able to get the rest sewn up and the collar added. The pattern calls for you to knit the collar separately and sew it on, but I really detest sewing and so I decided to use short rows instead of the stepped decreasing the collar called for. I’m still doing the collar one half at a time, as called for, but I have no problems sewing up knits next to knits for the 20 rows or so of the collar. Going along the edge of the work, however, to sew the collar on, would have been torture. And amazingly, I picked up the correct number of stitches on the first try. I’d done some counting and some vague visual mapping, but didn’t know it was going to work exactly until I got the stitches on the needles. I think the outside edge, which should have been the cast on edge if I’d done the piece separately, looks nice and neat as a cast-off edge.

Being home sick means that I have time to get to fabric row while stores are still open to buy buttons! This is an unexpected perk of being sick, I must say. I think I’ll bundle up and go out soon, before it’s supposed to rain. I seem to just have a cold–though Thursday I had all-body achiness, that’s subsided greatly. Now it’s mostly runny nose, stuffy head, etc. That I can handle—but I need to nip in the bud before my flight to Portland on Wednesday!