last shift

I worked my last shift at my lqs on Saturday. It's closing in a few weeks. The store felt really empty - tables were gone, shelving was missing, and sale signs were posted everywhere. I am very sad that my favourite store will be closed. sniff sniff

Mom tried on her cardigan yesterday and it looks like I have about 3.5" left before I can cast off the first sleeve. But... I might frog the sleeve and reknit it. I calculated the sleeve decreases incorrectly because I was guessing at the sleeve length. So, I have several options - keep going but increase the decrease rate (and hope I don't end up with an ugly sleeve), rip the sucker all the way back and reknit, or keep the decrease rate and hope the cuff isn't too loose. The first and third options are tied for first at the moment. We'll see how I feel later today.

While Mom's cardigan was on hold, I cast on a Monkey sock on Sat. I knit the first sock ages ago so it's been languishing in the WIP pile. It's a pretty fast knit - I've already got half the leg knitted.


I also spent the weekend quilting. I pieced the back of a quilt and this morning I basted it. I wasn't supposed to do any work on this quilt but I had to rescue a fellow quilter who wasn't able to meet the Fri deadline. Phoebe tried to help.

"mmm a new quilt top" - Phoebe

"Where are the tasty basting pins?" - Phoebe

I usually lock her out when I'm basting because I use safety pins. Phoebe thinks the safety pins are tasty and she likes to chew on them after I've pinned them into the quilt. She can be such a pest sometimes. But I was thread basting today so it was ok for her to be around.

And if I don't already have enough projects on the go, I hauled out the serger yesterday and spent an hour threading the sucker, fiddling with the knobs, cursing, finally reading the manual, calling my sister (it's her cast-off serger - she has a much fancier one now) for help (she wasn't home), and finally, getting it all working. I made a few reusable fabric shopping bags (for groceries) and I'm going to make some pjs (that fit unlike the store-bought ones) for hubby. I might hem some sweats while I'm at it. I have to admit it's a handy little machine but it's a bit spooky knowing that once you've sewn something, there's no going back.