Does anyone remember the Inverness Guernsey #763 from Penny Straker? I love that pattern! I knit that sweater for mother in law back in the 80's. It took me a long time to knit. I discovered another knitter at work and we had both decided to knit this sweater together. There were no graphs, I followed the patterns line by line and had to have a very complicated system for tracking my rows. The patterns used in the sweater did not "jive", one pattern was an 8 row repeat, another was a a 12 row repeat, another was 6 row repeat. Anyhoo, I like knitting sweaters for other knitters because they appreciate the time and effort that goes into knitting a sweater and who knits for them?? No one.

So, earlier this week I stopped by mother in law's house and she told me she was thinking about dyeing the sweater ( it was knit in an off white natural wool.) She had talked to the people at the LYS and they told her they dye sweaters all the time. Then she told me she had washed the sweater and brought it out for me to see. She had it cloths pinned to a wire hanger and it had obviously felted. I asked how she had washed it and she said she had washed in the washing machine on gentle. She said it hadn't shrunk at all, I had to bite my tongue, I could see that it had! I didn't give her any advice at all. I vented to my husband later and he said "you gave it away, you have to let it go." I am venting here because I am so sad about that sweater. I loved that sweater.

If I rationalize this, I have had awful things happen to stuff given to me. Like when the BEAGLE chewed the binding on a quilt my mother made for us. I was torn between telling her or not, and now I'm thinking not, ever. Has anyone else had this happen. I think this will be my motivation to knit the Inverness Guernsy for myself.

Reality check!

The first SwallowTail shawl I knitted I gave to my mother in law for Christmas, I finished it at the beginning of November. I had a second shawl about 3 movies away from finishing that I planned to give to my mother for Christmas. I had the 24th of December off from work and truly believed that I could finish her shawl in time for our Christmas day exchange. And then reality set in, I had to let the shawl go. Instead I spent Christmas eve day cooking and wrapping, It was a good day. I was fortunate to have had a great necklace I had purchased for myself and never worn stowed away - a beautiful bead and cedar rose creation... she loved it!
If I play my cards right, I'm only 3 movies away from a headstart on next years Christmas knitting.