Happy Birthday Leah!

As a birthday treat, here is my progress report (hahaha). Well, at least it's not April Fool's Day.

Respinning the purple yarn (my newest UFO?) -- on hold.

Knitting the Oregon Jacob Tote -- on hold, but itching to get worked on. Gotta find the tote it's in!

Miniature knitting -- had two new colors come in, so they got done instead of "old" colors. But I have now, I think, standardized on the mini sweater and my own "we hate finishing even _small_ things" knitting pattern (below, for your knitting enjoyment).

The Fair Isle Arm Warmers -- hey, this has been ACTIVE lately. May even finish arm warmer number one. But I think I may skein up the remaining yarn rather than knit #2 this summer ... maybe next winter, LOL. This yarn is seriously cool looking, if-i-say-so-myself (see the picture?)

On the plus side, I got all the tax paperwork organized and on its way to the tax man! So they may even be done on time this year unless he finds a spanner in the works.

Miniature Sweater Knitting Pattern
Use an appropriate needle for your yarn (sweater size will vary). Takes about 20 yards of yarn. Except, I stick to US3 for stuff finer than that, as knitting this with US1's kills my hands.

Cast on 12 stitches. If you want Knit 3 rows K1P1 rib. Knit a total of 12 rows, include any patterning you want. A little 2/2 cable up the middle looks sweet :-).

At the start of a right-side row, cast on 6 stitches, using e-wrap cast-ons (this is one of the sleeves). Now, K1, P1, K across to the other arm-edge, and cast on 6 stitches there, using e-wrap cast-ons. Yes, the arms end up slightly catywumpus from each other, but it really doesn't matter. Note, the K1P1 at the start of the row is so the sleeve edges sit flat. Cool trick, not original to me.

Now, you are on a wrong-side row, facing 6 e-wrap cast-ons. Work your way across like so: P1, K1, P until 2 stitches remain, K1, P1. (you should have 24 stitches on the needles right now ...)

You need to knit 4 more rows before you bind-off some neck stitches:
K1 P1, K until 2 stitches remain, P1, K1;
WS do P1, K1, P until 2 st remain, K1, P1.
Repeat. There are your four rows!

OK, now: K1, P1, K7, cast off 6, K7, P1, K1
And next: P1, K1, P7, cast on 6 (e-wrap style works fine), P7, K1, P1.

Now you need six more sleeve rows:
K1 P1, K until 2 stitches remain, P1, K1;
WS do P1, K1, P until 2 st remain, K1, P1.
Repeat two more times. There are your six rows!

Now we get to the tricky I-hate-to-finish step:
turn the sweater inside out and match the cast-on edge of the sleeve you are working on up to it. As you knit across the sleeve (just to K's this time, skip the non-curling purl), pick up and knit it with a stitch from the cast-on edge and cast it off; yup, K-with-picked-up-cast-on-stitch and cast it off, 6 times. Then K across the sweater and the other sleeve until 2 stitches are left, P1, K1.

Now, do the same-on-the-flip-side to the other sleeve ... just purling, pick up and purl a cast-on-edge-stitch with each stitch from the needle and cast the new purled stitch off as you go along, 6 times. This leaves you with just the body left.

Now as you knit and purl each row, at the start and end of each row, pick up edge stitches (I didn't slip first stitches for this very reason!) and knit or purl them together with the last and the first stitch of each row. (ed. note: I haven't tried skipping one and just, for example, doing the knit-together at the end of each row or something. It might work. If I'm in a rush, I'll try it -- it would be easier!)

Do as many rows as you did in the front -- 12 rows total. Cast off after the last row. Be sure to repeat the ribbing if you ribbed the bottom front.

Now you have two small ends to weave in (or push up inside the sweater).

Whew. I know this is "rough" but if you try it, let me know if it's totally mud or obviously flawed, as it's typed in off-the-cuff (hardeharhar).

-Amelia