A Matter of Inches

I haven't talked about the sweater at all lately.  It sits beside me on my sofa project and cone of yarn in their bag waiting patiently for some attention.  Occasionally, right at the end of each day, it gets a little love.  Only on the good days though, where my hands and heart still want to knit and I know I won't hurt myself for blanket knitting.

When we last talked sweater, the debate was how long and split hem or not split hem.  I had decided not to, but then when I actually started knitting, I ended up splitting it.  That was after a day of wearing my green sweater which had a lovely deep split hem.  I also took the time while I was wearing the green sweater, to measure it's length from underarm to hem.  And wrote it down in the notes on Ravelry so next time I was wondering how long to make something, I had it at my fingertips.

My green sweater is split at twelve inches from the underarm and the back hem goes a further eight inches while the front goes six more.  

It isn't quite finished in this picture but you can see how long it is better than the other photo.  I love wearing this thing, very much in part because of its tunic like length.  It also looks really good with my new slim cut pants I made for myself.  (Need more of those. Just sayin') The yarn here is a lovely wool cotton blend with fantastic drape, and that split hem?  Stunning.  You can see how deep that split is.

The other sweater I wear all the time and love more than just about any other for all it's flaws, is this one.  

Again, it is the tunic length of it that plays a big part in why it gets so much wear.  It is the yarn too, that was special, but I love its twenty inches from the underarm length.  

With both my burning questions answered, I have tucked in a bit of knitting here and there as it fits into a day.

It's not much, but every stitch counts in the finishing of things.  It is only a wee bit more than an inch, but work is happening.  It will get some love once the blankets are done and my Christmas is delivered.

So how is that blanket going?  Rather well if I do say so myself.

I took a quick measure and it is twenty-two inches long so far.  Once again, the hem is about eleven inches and the rest is how far one small ball of the grey yarn goes.  I know this because I just switched over to the second ball of the grey.  At this rate, I will use right about five balls of the grey.  Which I have so no worries.  

I also tracked just how much I have knit.  I have done this twice now, marking my start and measuring at the end of the day, and it seems I can knit about six inches a day on a good day.  

That is on a good day.  If I only have good days, the blanket will be finished in plenty of time for Christmas.  I mean to do everything I can to be sure that I have only good days.  It is all a matter of inches.

Whatever else is going on in this world, there are so many things else to write about, to note down, to mark a place in the story of my life outside of my little knitting world.  Last weekend, my beloved Uncle Victor died.  Uncle Victor was everyone in my family's beloved uncle. He was my mother's unmarried brother  who farmed the old home place till he retired and where he still lived till just a few short weeks ago..  He had a stroke a few months ago, and things were looking good, till they found he had a fairly advanced stage of cancer.  Because of the stroke and some previous heart problems, and his age of 88 years, they felt he could not have withstood the surgery and chemo and they were probably very right about that.  Even had he been able to take it, he would never have been able to go home again. What I wish most of all is that my mama could have seen him before he died.  In covid times, this couldn't be.  How I wish that wasn't so.  As things go, there is a time for everything and it was his time to go.  But he sure will be missed.