KAL Pile Up

The Tour de France - and the Knit-along - started last Saturday but Rachel's TV package doesn't include the Tour channel, so I was three days behind when we got home. Thanks to the miracle of DVR, Dick and I watched stage one last night and stages two, three and four today (I love being retired!) We'll watch stage five in the morning before catching stage six live with Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen (my favorite commentators).

The watch-athon gave me plenty of time to finish the sleeves - all the sweater pieces are complete now - but not without my own personal crash and burn. I'd finished one sleeve and was almost done with the second when I noticed something wasn't quite right. Turns out I'd skipped a row in the cable pattern, 10-12 rows back. Would anybody besides me ever notice? Probably not. Would I always know it was there and would it bug me forever? You betcha. I feel better having riiiiiiipped it out and started anew. Tomorrow I'll sew the back and fronts together, then start the collar, button band and bottom ribbing. That leaves only the cuff ribbing, sewing in the sleeves and finding the right buttons. I'm excited now that I can see the finish line.

Although not technically part of my Tour de France challenge, I did finish this blanket Monday while watching news highlights of the Tour. The blanket, fleece with satin ribbon edges, wound up being 38" wide by 58" long. I'd hoped to use Rachel's sewing machine to attach the edging, but the power cord is among the missing so I ended up blanket-stitching the entire one-hundred and ninety-two inches by hand. For over eight hours. And I have the blisters to prove it. Could I have waited and sewed it by machine at home? Technically, yes. But with my compulsive personality? Not a chance. I love how it turned out - and so does Addy - but the next one? I'm using a sewing machine.