So, I cast on, and started knitting, taking meticulous notes so that both sleeves could be the same. . .not a pipe-dream, I swear this can be done! And I kept thinking, "Man!, this sleeve is taking forever! It must be my imagination, but it seems like it will never end!"
Did I stop to check the stitch count in my notes? Of course not. But, in my defense, I had actually written down the wrong stitch count anyway, so even if I had checked, I still might not have seen it as a problem.
Finally, I got to the decreasing for the cap of the sleeve, where it would fit into the armhole, and the decreasing felt like it was taking FOREVER! What is up with this sleeve?!? Eventually, I decreased to the requisite 12 stitches, and I bound off. Whew! Then I started the second sleeve.
Did I stop to look at sleeve one, admiring my work, or checking the fit into the armhole area? Of course not. Even though I had originally planned to sew it in when it was done so I could show it off a knit-night on Thursday. Instead, I just took it off the needles, and I stuffed it into the bag.
As I continued a bit with sleeve 2, I looked at my notes. Hmmm, 120 sts seems like a lot for a sleeve on this sweater. . .where is the original pattern I started with, the one from KnittingFool.com? Here it is. . .whaaaaaa? 102 sts??????? What do my notes say? 120?!? Well, booger! "Yep, I should have definitely stopped increasing long before I did. . .how does that mess me up in the shoulder?," I wondered.
Well, if you were originally supposed to do 52 rows of decreasing (8 decs each row twice; followed by 2 decs, every other row 25 times), and your final stitch count should be 36 sts before you start decreasing 3 sts every other row, that's one thing. If you abandon your row counter, figuring that you will just decrease every other row until you reach 36 sts, but you started with 120 rather than 102, you will now have 70 rows of decreases incorporated into a verrrrrry loooooong sleeve that will NOT fit into it's armhole by any stretch of the imagination. 
(Please do NOT even think of suggesting 80s-style puffy sleeves to me. I would have to hurt you, and that would be so un-Pretty. . .)Soooo, I will be ripping and re-knitting, correctly I hope, eventually. For now, sleeve two is increased to 102 sts. . .sigh!. . .and stuffed in a bag. And sleeve one is just stuffed in a bag until I feel it is (or I am) ready to come out of the time-out corner. . .
In the meantime, it is doing this again where I live and where I work. . .
. . .and it is very pretty out there. But I really wish that tires could have more traction in fresh snow. My slippery ride to work today, while very pretty, was also peppered with radio newscasts of snow-related accidents, and punctuated by cars that I saw ditched along the way. If I could have stayed inside all day, that would have been lovely. Alas, it is probably too early in the year to use up my vacation days. . .especially for silly, slushy snow! To lift my spirits, I have been doing a bit of machine knitting. I had 3 sweaters knit up, in pieces, waiting to be seamed up and finished by hand. Now there are only 2 in waiting, because I worked on this while Salsa was in time-out:
And it's very cute, if I do say so myself! It still needs buttons, and I think a quick hat and wash are in order, then off to the recipient! I am pretty glad there are babies to gift the knitting to. . .they are so appreciative and so very adorable in their hand-knit garments! (Ever heard a baby ask, "Yeah, but does it make my butt look big?" Didn't think so!) And still no Ravelympic spinning. . .well, I guess every entry doesn't achieve a medal in Vancouver either, so I will just settle down, and maybe I'll learn to spin another time. . .
Thanks for stopping by, and Knit in Good Health!
OH bummer abou thte sleeve, I can feel your pain! My drive to work was crappy too....57 stunk this morning. Ken couldn't even get to work...accidents on 10/480 so he worked from home
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