Knitting from Outer Space

Because I had finished the sock that I started to avoid working on the body of my sweater it was time to move on. The body was finished rather painlessly. It was time to cast on the first sleeve. Set-in sleeves from the top down aren’t as hard as I thought they would be.

I have a small issue with my shoulder cap short rows — the side where I picked up the wraps from the purl side have small holes. I have this problem with socks as well. Of course, I was well on my way when i reread the shoulder cap short row instructions. It’s written a bit badly… she talks about 2 different ways to do the short rows not wrapped or wrapped, and oh by the way, the way you should really do it is wrap the stitches but don’t pick up the wraps. *sigh*

But, I pressed on. Small detail… can’t see it from a galloping horse.

I was an inch away from the bind off of the first sleeve when I realized that the tickling feeling in the back of my brain that something wasn’t right was probably right. I had tried on the sleeve multiple times by this point, but there were no outright problems seen. I thought perhaps it just seemed off cause I have ridiculously skinny wrists (just a tad shy of 7″ around); the sleeve needed to decrease dramatically in order to fit.

I went back to the instructions, and yup, I missed a step in the math for figuring out the deecreases. So, I’ve ripped back to the end of the 1″ I worked even after finishing the sleeve cap. I added another inch of even st st, and am now re-embarking on newly figured decreases. I almost ripped the whole thing out, but figured the short rows weren’t that bad.

I know I’ve been lax about posting eye candy on Fridays of late, but today I have a good reason — I’m a bit in shock.

Enterprise is a blip on the map of Alabama.

It’s the home of the Boll Weevil Monument.

And it’s where I spent a good portion of my childhood while my father was stationed at Fort Rucker. I went to Rucker Boulevard Elementary on Regency Dr., and we lived not a block down the street on Antler Dr.

I don’t always look fondly on the time we lived there. There was blantent bigotry. There were too many peanuts. And my elementary school still had corporal punishment… the one black kid in my class was spanked at least once a week.

Yesterday, the town where I learned my fear of tornados has been ripped open by one.

I don’t know if there’s anyone still living there that I may have known as a child. But the town and the people are in my thoughts.