I THOUGHT IT WAS CLEVER at the time

In the last week of my holiday, I knit a cardigan-jacket for myself. It's this pattern...

... and I had, in my stash, two bags (10 balls each) of a gorgeous blue-tones boucle-type wool blend that I got on sale in the spring from a LYS.

It knit up quickly and beautifully -- all garter stitch, drop-shouldered, and on size 6 mm needles. Easy-peasy.... except for this one little catch. The pattern suggested that when you think you've knit the arms long enough, transfer the stitches to a length of yarn so that when you're doing the finishing, you can measure them more accurately.

I did that.

Then I carefully sewed the shoulder seams together (using the same lovely blue boucle-type yarn, of course), and then laid out the arms. When I tried it on, the arms were the perfect length -- so I had this great idea. Couldn't I save myself the time it would take to cast them off first by 'sort of' grafting those live stitches to the edge stitches of the front and back pieces?

Well, as you can imagine, that boucle-type yarn hung on to those stitches for dear life, and I sewed that arm up beautifully -- only to discover that it was in the completely wrong position on the body of the sweater. Don't even ask!

So instead of having a picture of a lovely FO to show off this morning, I've spent the last hour doing a little cursing. Okay ... a lot of cursing. I have it apart now, but I'm pretty sure I dropped some stitches in the process, so now I have to tink that sleeve back a row or two, and then CAST OFF before I attempt to re-attach it.

I'm hoping I'll accomplish this minor miracle before Knit'n'Cafe this afternoon, too -- wish me luck!

Meanwhile, let me tell you about the Atrevida...

The Atrevida was the Texada Island ferry from 1940 to 1960, but we first met her in 1995 when she was owned by an elderly gent and his wife who lived on her on a buoy in Maple Bay near our float home. During the time we were there the elderly gent's wife died, and the gent himself stopped working on the boat and fell into a long depression. Enter Leroy and Judith, who were living on a sailboat nearby -- and who had talked to said elderly gent about purchasing the Atrevida 'some day.' The timing was right for all concerned, and so Judith and Leroy began their life on the Atrevida in about 1998.

The Atrevida has a huge old for-real wooden cookstove in its galley, and Judith happens to be a pretty good baker -- so for the past ten years, the Atrevida can be found anchored in Montagu Harbour (Galiano Island) during the summer, where the aroma of fresh-baked cinnamon buns fills the bay by 7 a.m. and there is a parade of dinghies to Judith's door to purchase them.

We, unfortunately, didn't catch up to them until the season was over, and they were anchored in Ganges on Salt Spring Island. It was nice to see them again, though, and the Atrevida looked wonderful -- they've worked hard on her!