Ooh! Ooh! Look what Cindy sent me!

Mmmmm, Imported Buttons.

I can’t thank you enough, Cindy! You made my whole day. Here is what they look like on the Everyday Cardigan:

Want to see the whole thing?

I love this sweater, I have worn it twice since I put the buttons on. In fact, I’ve got it on right now. It’s so good and snug and I really like how Peace Fleece wears – a real work horse of a yarn. Oddly, no one has asked me if I made this one. I wonder if that’s a good thing or a bad thing? Does it look obviously homemade? Maybe it’s the buttons. Everyone around here knows they are way too cool to have come from Wal-Mart so the sweater must be store-bought. Yeah, that’s the ticket.

After stalling for several days, I finally mustered the courage to unravel the too-big cuffs on the vintage sweater. One at a time, mind you. Holding my breath.

Huh. It works. Go figure.

I knit the cuffs back on with a needle two sizes smaller and they came out OK. I can’t even believe that worked. But since it did, I am tempted to undo the bottom band on that orange sweater vest and shrink it, too. I finished up the front bands and was in the middle of blocking when I decided that the sweater was the wrong size. Apparently, when the pattern gave the measurements, they gave the size of the person who was supposed to wear the sweater, not the finished size of the sweater.* Hmph. So I took a chance and threw the dripping cardigan in the dryer on high. I don’t know what made me do that. I guess I was feeling invincible after the sucess of the cuffedectomy. In twenty minutes, it was thicker, softer and just the right size. It’s blocking the rest of the way right now. Henceforth, I will refer to the Vintage Sweater as the One I Couldn’t Ruin.

Did I mention that I am not allowed to buy anymore yarn until mid-January? Stupid Christmas. Gotta buy stuff for other people. The Season of Giving. Blech. Speaking of other people, I have started working on the One And Only Knitted Christmas Gift. What do you get for Michael’s Granny who “doesn’t want anything for Christmas”?

And she better wear them. Not like the afghan I made for her birthday that she keeps in a box under the bed. She says she doesn’t want it to get messed up.

*This means that I can make one of the boy sweaters in the book for M without monkey business.