The green sweater

One thing I love about my neighbourhood is that you can take out the trash in your pjs and meet someone and chat about how to cook ribs... I've got some in the freezer, but I've never cooked them, and now I'm faced with the parboil-or-don't-parboil debate. Sam does it one way, David does it another. What's a girl to do?? My Joy of Cooking says nothing about cooking ribs! Nothing! And I have one recipe which calls for 3 different sauces and three steps in cooking them: boil, bake and grill... that'd take me all day! Anyone have any tips? Should I find out how to do a Blogpoll?

Um, some other time, since it didn't work... Besides, this is really an essay question, I think.

Moving right along...

In the olden days, when a politician got a letter from a constituent, they multiplied that by 10,000 or some such number to figure out how many people cared, because a very small percentage of people would actually go to the trouble of writing to a politician. (Now I'm sure they get so many e-mails that 1 in 10,000 might actually get read....) However, I am applying the old-school thinking to my comments! If one person says, "Hey, what's that pattern?" then I know there are hordes of you just clamouring for the answer.... Right?

The Green Cardigan

I'm not using a published pattern, except I'm getting the numbers to cast on and so on from a top-down raglan from Patons. I have the cardigan version of this book, but I'm sure you could work something out from a pullover pattern! So I cast on, and mark the stitches at the shoulder raglans - one front and back for each sleeve. Then, increase 1 stitch each side of the marked stitches, every right-side row, till it fits down to where your arm leaves your shoulder... if you know what I mean. And increase at the neck edge to make the V-neck. AND fit the lace pattern in. The one I'm using is called Tile Stitch in my old stitch dictionary, and I was going to type it out, but a) you can probably find it in your own stitch book -- but googling "tile stitch" gets you lots of links to stitch markers made from Scrabble tiles -- and b) you will probably like another pattern better for yourself and c) I was reminded of the soporific properties of knitting patterns and of Anne's Insomniac Knitters' podcast!

I am going to just carry on straight down the body, but add a scallopy-schmancy edging, I think, instead of a ribbing at the bottom. And I'll make the sleeves as long as I can, but am leaning towards "bracelet length" even if I have lots of yarn.

And that's that for now.

I just went on a bit of a binge of Buying Things That Will Make Me Organized. I got 2 little cases for dpns and circular needles. No more ziploc with holes in for me! And, I got a notebook... My friend and I were in a stationer's a while ago, looking at these notebooks and saying how things would really happen if you had a book like that... but both knowing that notebooks don't really make you organized, they don't change your life, having a cool $4 notebook isn't really better than having scraps of paper stapled together... but today I fell for it, and got myself a nice little book to carry around and jot important things in... Like, if everyone's getting dishcloths for Christmas, I could knit one a week and get that done with little trouble. (If you are related to me by blood or marriage, just disregard that... I'm sure it doesn't apply to you... not at all.)