What Would Macgyver Do?

Task:

Block a sweater. 16 undisturbed square feet needed for blocking mat.

Challenge:

Edgar Allen Poe ...











Molly .... 

Petunia.












Solution:

All those years watching "MacGyver" have finally paid off.












The sweater isn't finished yet, but the directions said to block to proportion before knitting the last thing, which is the button bands. I'm not normally fond of blocking ...
 
Because there just isn't anywhere in this house where I can spread out! It's a 900+ square foot house, but it's a three bedroom rowhouse, so it's all doorways and closet doors and hallways and the walls are solid concrete, and I tried putting anchors in them to hang the blocking mats, but the wall just crumbled, because it's 60 year old concrete. The widest spot in the house is the living room, which is 15 feet square. It's 15 feet from one wall to the other ... I am never more than 7 1/2 feet from a neighbor.

If I'm blocking something long and narrow, I can set it on the futon in the spare bedroom or along the downstairs hallway. But if it's square or in any way Tetris-y shaped, I have to get creative.


I am not pleased with the sleeves. And the yoke was a bit snug across my shoulders. I had to choose between a size that was way too big, and a size that was an eensy bit too small ... since it only buttons at the top, and doesn't close at the bottom, I went with slightly too small, figuring I could block it larger.


Hopefully, by this coming weekend, I will be at my favorite LYS, All About Yarn, in beautiful Columbia, Maryland, shopping for buttons! And by the time cool weather gets here, I'll have a nice snuggly cardigan to wear to work and show off.

Before diving into the Bohus Swing Coat, which will be very challenging, I'm going to relax with something easy and hopefully fast. I have been fascinated by these cowl-hats ... you knit a tube with drawstrings, and it can be a cowl ... or you put it on your head and pull the strings tight, and it's a hat! The newest KnitPicks catalog has a pattern for a Mandola Hat Cowl, and I decided to buy the pattern. I don't mean to knit it in the lovely colorwork pattern, though ... I have a skein of Stroll Handpainted Sock Yarn I've been wanting to use, and this is just the project for it. Hopefully it will be fast and mindless. This cardigan was actually quite easy, once I got the pattern set.

In other not-so-good news ... I think I have a mouse in the house.

I haven't heard anything, or seen any signs of one ... 

I just have a sneaking suspicion.