I caved

On June 6, I finally started a sweater called Cables After Whiskey designed by Lucy Neatby. I had swatched previously, using a smaller needle that I thought was appropriate for the yarn. Knit, knit, knit. After about 7" I measured the width of the sweater. Not good. It was smaller than needed. This sweater has a lot of cables. Cables pull in. The swatch did not have so many cables. Rip, rip, rip.

Last week I recalculated how many stitches I needed for the desired width. I thought I had many more stitches than the pattern, but I had missed the drastic increase in stitch count after the ribbing. My ribbing is closer to the width of the body. Again, I knit about 7". I decided to check yarn quantity. I'm making my sweater a little smaller, since oversize is what I am, not what I want in a sweater. The pattern calls for 1000 gm of yarn, I have 750 gm! Rip, rip, rip.

Version #3 - I'm using the needle size recommended in the pattern. I'm liking the fabric I'm making. Size medium calls for 800 gm of yarn, but I'm shortening the sweater by 7". Again, I'm making a loose lower ribbing, casting on 1 stitch less than required for the body. This will make a nice seam in the ribbing. I added the last stitch just before the body. I should have a nice loose sport weight sweater in my size.

Remodeling
We have new lights in the kitchen! We need a new ceiling before the fan light goes up (where the hanging light is). We still have some knob and tube wiring, mostly in overhead lights. It will be carrying much less of a load now, and all the outlets are grounded except one. The contractor has been called for an estimate on the ceiling. This is not a job we want to do in house. A number of outlets on the first floor are not connected, but will be on the next electrician visit. We'll also get smoke detectors wired into our hallway. We'll need to put battery operated ones in the bedrooms. Too much work to wire them in.

We also got the basement stairs painted with the first coat of paint. Progress is being made!