I Am Not Fond of Sewing Up

As I wrote the title I said it with my best Queen Elizabeth accent. Probably because I finally watched The Queen today. What a great picture. Helen Mirren is spectacular.

But I digress.

I've always hated sewing up my work. It's tedious, fiddley and boring. Now I really enjoy fiddley when it's cables and bobbles and actual--dare I say it--knitting. I hate it when it's sewing.

So imagine my surprise when I found out I was doing it totally ass backward. I was flipping through a pattern book recently and found out that I was doing a completely ridiculous version of blanket stitch and could have spent the past 35 years, if not enjoying the sewing at least not hating it.

With my new skills in my arsenal, I finally finished Molly's Carolyn sweater. I started it out so log ago that it was supposed to be Bratty Girl's sweater but she outgrew it. It's Brown Sheep Nature Spun Worsted. Some people write off the Brown Sheep yarns as old fashioned but I find them to be lovely. The price is reasonable. The yardage is great. And their are tons and tons of colors to choose from.


It is now patiently waiting for buttons. I am going to be in Halifax for one day next week so I'm going to look from some there. If I don't find them, then a trip to M&J will be in order.

My newly found sewing skills also led to this. Although I wish I had read the Yarn Harlot's tutorial on picking up stitches today. I love learning from other knitters--particularly those that also give me humor and inspiration.


This is the first in a series. I made it for my friend Paula. I know it is just in time for New York Summer Heat but it will still fit her in the fall. I loved this pattern although I did make a few changes. Mostly, I totally ditched the short row shaping on the back. I kept trying the shrug on Paula all through the knitting process and it really didn't need the shaping . And it was giving me a hard time so I just skipped it. I like to count rows rather than measure things so, in my total nerdiness, I ended up with an excel spreadsheet for all the shaping. It made my life about a gazillion times easier so I don't really care if I'm a big old nerd.

The next one is pink for Yvonne followed by--hmmm what color should I do--for Joyce.

Paula also got my yarn money for the week. She is flying to Chicago to participate in a suicide prevention walk in honor of a loved one that she has lost. If you would like to support here, just click here. I'm sure she would appreciate some love from the knitting world.