"Is this the little girl I carried? Is this the little boy at play?
I don't remember growing older.... when did they?"
Colby's 4th grade class sang selections from Fiddler on the Roof as part of a Broadway-themed (no complaints from me) Mother's Day tea a few weeks ago. If those lyrics hadn't struck a chord with me at the tea, they certainly did yesterday.
That's because we attended Upper School orientation for incoming freshman last night, the school's first official event for the Class of 2013. Our oldest is starting high school next year--- and I'm suddenly hearing myself say all the things people my age with children this age say... Where did all the time go? It really went by too quickly. In just three short years, she'll be choosing a college to attend. And in four... Gulp.
But seriously, I don't remember getting older...!
I've spent this past week of my old age fiddlin' around with a test pattern, written by an extremely talented Rav cohort, Samantha Roshak. I had admired her completed prototype at our knit group recently, and was delighted when she asked if I'd be interested in testing the pattern. She knitted hers in Sundara Aran Silky Merino:
This cute little sweater is designed to be close-fitting, with a nice drape at the hem. In knitting the fabric, the open lace pattern is not fully realized until after the garment has been soaked and blocked. On my first attempt, I used a Plymouth Merino Silk but decided that the color was just, meh. Imagine that, the neutral just didn't do it for me.
So I got brave and decided to visit the frenzy called the Ravelry Sundara DISO (Desperately In Search Of) Destash Page to see if I could find two skeins of this notoriously elusive yarn! Got lucky and found two, had them shipped from a nice Raveler in NYC who was destashing.
Ahhh... much better:
I referred to my Vogue Knitting Quick Reference for cast-on techniques when I came to the armholes, but other than that, I hardly worried about making any fatal errors. A couple of the girls in knit group did give me a bit of a ribbing when they saw the test knitter having to check a knitting guide to execute pattern instructions. But hey, I've been told that bonehead pattern testers can be equally as useful as the really good testers!--- for different reasons, of course.
Well, guess what Ms. Bonehead Pattern Tester didn't do. I didn't knit and block a gauge swatch before starting. I figured that since I'd be using the same famed yarn on the same needles called for, I couldn't go that wrong with a pattern that would need to be stretched afterwards anyway. So I knitted happily along for two days and finished the sweater. But when I brought the not-yet-blocked sweater to show Samantha--- it was met with a look of concern. "I think this is going to be too small," she said. "How did your swatch look? Did it match the gauge I gave?"
"Uhhh..... not exactly."
She then advised me not to rip out but to try aggressively blocking instead. Even after soaking and rigorous blocking, I wasn't able for the life of me to stretch it enough to fit around me, much less achieve the beautiful eyelet effect of the original design. I had knitted the pattern stitch too tightly, and that's all she wrote. Maybe I should ask Sam to include this as a pattern note: "Blockheads, remember to block a swatch!" Well, she'd only need to include that on my copy.
Oddly enough, the thought of having to start over again didn't completely freak me out. I unwound the sweater, soaked the yarn in Eucalan to refresh it, and hung the hanks to dry for rewinding. It was a pretty fast knit the first time and an enjoyable one at that. So, I'll begin again tomorrow.
As far as I'm concerned, a little rewind now and then isn't all bad.
