Do-Over

I can't show the images right now because the sweater in question hasn't yet been published, but suffice to say that when I'd finished my recent sweater for VK I was not thrilled. Or amused. It just looked - dowdy - and not how I'd envisioned it.

So I chopped off the bottom and reworked the hem, ripped out the neck ribbing and reknit it as a rolled neckline, and duplicate stitched an extra motif and some other details. It's obviously the same sweater - just small changes - but it's much better (much more how I'd originally wanted it to look!)

Part of this was the yarn - it was a wool/acrylic blend and I was treating it more like a wool. It lacked the body I'd hoped for, and had begun to droop, so I knew it had to be shortened. It was looking a little JC Penney. Now it's hipper - something I'd like to wear myself (if I hadn't made it in a model size small...) and I'm happy with the transformation.

Maybe it's my costume background, but every now and then I just have to SEE a finished project to figure out how to get there from here. Usually it's when I'm working with a yarn that I didn't choose. It's not that I'm the primo yarn chooser of all times, it's more that each yarn has it's own idiosyncracies which must be dealt with. This particular yarn, although I'd used it in a few other projects to good effect, just didn't want to do what I needed it to do this time around. Live and learn!

Move Update
So we have our timeline - I'll be flying to San Diego, then meeting with Gerry in MN to look at our finalists and make a decision (and hopefully go into contract!) Then back home where the Pods will be delivered and we start the marathon 2 weeks of packing.

At the end of Jan I'm off to Chicago to teach, then I fly back home for more packing. We're planning on keeping about 2 weeks worth of clothes and stuff that we'll need for the actual moving period (my current projects, books to ship, etc.) and we'll be carrying these things with us in a U-haul trailer.

Then I'm off again - this time to Rochester (so that Gerry's stuck with the final packing and sending off of the Pods - nice how I worked that...) I fly back home to NJ one final time - I'm getting misty.

We'll pack up the kids, dog, cats and leave in our 2 cars, traveling convoy style across the US, Westward HO to Minnesota!

We're thinking the trip will take 3-4 days (travel with kids and animals can be slower than free-and-easy parents alone on the road...) and we're hoping that we can arrange it so that the pods will be waiting for us upon our arrival (so we can put our beds together right away) There are so many things to think about - I'm glad I left Jan and Feb relatively open!