Fall

I'm chilly, because I've got all the windows open and it's only about 55 (about 13 Celsius). But we had several days of rain last week and it's supposed to rain some more today, so I want to air the house out while I can. Pretty soon I'll be sealing the windows up for winter. I hear natural gas prices will be lower this year--I hope so! That would be a welcome break.

I decided I need a new sweater for this kind of weather. This is the Polperro Gansey cardigan from Classic British Knits--very simple, just panels of chevron and moss stitch. The original is made in pieces; I, of course, decided to do it in the round to the armholes, and I'll pick up stitches around the armholes and work down for the sleeves. I did the pockets a little differently, too, and they seem to be sitting in there okay; I'll have to go back and work some kind of edging to finish them off, but that's no big deal. They're more a design element than practical pockets anyway--the originals are only 12 rows deep. You could maybe stick your keys in them, but they're not pockets for hands.

Another change I'm going to make is the size of the sleeves. I'm using the original 1986 edition, and in the photos the sleeves start at the top of the 7th chevron from the bottom. That makes the sleeves really deep and bulky, more than half the length of the sweater, so I think I'm going to start my armhole at the top of the 8th chevron from the bottom, which is about an inch and a quarter difference. It'll still be a deep sleeve, but not quite so bulky.

I really like the yarn--it's a double strand of a 100% wool with the lanolin still in, and I like the feel and the smell. Plus it will make the sweater a bit water-resistant, just as a casual outdoor sweater should be. I need to find out how to wash it without washing the lanolin out. [Bingo! I found a site about washing wool diaper covers that includes a recipe for a home-made wool wash with lanolin in it.]

The garden is looking okay, but on a day like today I wish I had a spot for fall flowers like mums and asters--summer flowers just seem too--summery. Red and bronze and gold mums and smokey-blue and violet asters just "feel" better. What else is autumnal? Berries, I suppose. Goldenrod. All kinds of foliage that turns colors, ivies and barberries and things.

Poor little Timber, his allergies are starting to kick up. He's had a good summer--his little tummy even grew the hair back over the summer and the skin regained its natural color--and I hate to see him start getting uncomfortable again. I hope it's not a bad allergy season for him--uncomfortable rather than miserable.