delayed gift giving

I've been on a cardigan knitting hiatus.

I had a week and a half to knit a surprise sweater for my MIL.

Pattern: March Basic

Yarn: Lion Brand Cotton Ease (5 skeins)

Needles: Addi Turbos US 8

May 30- June 7

She requested a light grey, v-neck cardigan that wouldn't be eaten by moths.

It's way too wide, probably not long enough, and I had to do the sleeves two sizes smaller to get them to fit the body of the sweater. It took me four days to knit two sleeves twice.

The day she was supposed to see us, she called to say she was too tired to visit.

She went into the hosiptal the next night. Turns out that she was too tired because the left side of her heart was 90% clogged- and that would be because she has a history of heart disease in her family and has been a smoker for 60 years.

I decided that I didn't really want to reknit the thing, so Dave brought her sweater to her in the hosiptal today.

Sahara is finished, was washed, and is now drying...probably one the best yarn substitutions I've done. It was a great way to use up my stash!

Now I'll be focusing on Tulip from the Spring/Summer Rowan. I started the 34" bust size, but it looked big. Then my friend warned me that all the Rowan patterns are big and to drop down a size and use smaller needles. This pattern doesn't have any waist shaping - so I've knit 4.5 inches and I'm trying to decide if I should alter the pattern and do some decreases. I'm looking at pg 57 and it looks like they've pinned the fronts together to get them to stay together. Hmmmm....