I have hit a wall with my purple tweed sweater, Forever Tweed by Wendy Bernard (Knitscene, Spring 2009).
The schematic says that the collar is to be 7 1/2" long. It is. It also says that from where the collar attaches to the body of the sweater, to the underarms where you separate for the sleeves, the length is to be 8". Though my gauge is correct, the length from collar to underarm is actually smaller than the length of the collar itself.
I checked for errata on Knitscene & Ravelry, and re-measured three times (you increase every other row for a total of 30 rows to make the shoulders) and then gave up and took it to the LYS. The usually helpful saleswoman was also stumped, photocopied the pattern with my notes, and offered to call if they could figure it out. No calls yet. What to do? If I keep going with the increasing, the arms will be too big. If I don't, I'll lose the nice diagonal of the raglan design. Does anyone have any ideas?? Maybe I am missing something.
Last weekend we went on another used bookstore trip, this time to Brattleboro, Vermont. It's only about 2 1/2 hours by car from our home, and our friends Dorothy and Hobgoblin joined us. I always feel better book shopping with them, because Hobgoblin finds more books than I do! I made up for our last bookless trip by coming home with six mysteries, one new and five used. I might just make it through winter now!!
In the finishing department, I enjoyed Lorna Barrett's Murder is Binding, the first book in the Booktown Mystery series. Trisha, newly divorced and beginning the next phase of her life as a mystery bookseller in Stoneham, New Hampshire, is horrified to discover her store neighbor, Doris Gleason, murdered one night in The Cookery. Doris was not well-liked by any of the other shopkeepers or villagers, but for some reason, the sheriff seems intent on charging Trisha with murder. Further complicating matters is Trisha's sister, Angelica, who has decided to relocate to Stoneham. Trisha and Angelica have never gotten along, and to Trisha, the thought of her sister living in the same town is unbearable.
Despite their differences, the sisters team up to solve Doris' murder, and the solution was believable and satisfying. The strength of this series, however, is its characters. Some mystery series have stock characters who are not well-developed or even interesting as people, and are there to move the plot along. In this case, the elderly Mr. Everett and Ginny, who work in the bookshop, are people I want to know more. Angelica is a person clearly trying to overcome her past, though she still occasionally offends Trisha with her old habits. I've started book #2, Bookmarked for Death, and I'll see how their lives unfold.
Most of you know that I volunteer at our local no-kill shelter, giving out medications to the cats, providing transport to the vet, and helping with the seasonal newsletter. Occasionally, I do a bit of rescue too. If someone calls the shelter about a stray cat in their neighborhood, I might be asked to pick it up and take it to the shelter.
Last Sunday night, a stray cat came to us. We had friends over, and one of our cats made that special growly noise they do when someone is on their property. Sure enough, when I looked out onto our back deck, I was greeted by a tiger cat with glowy light green eyes.
I borrowed a hav-a-heart trap from the shelter, tempted our stray with some tuna in the trap, and the next night, we discovered her waiting for us. Though covered with ticks, she didn't seem too worse for the wear of being on her own outside. Meet Ashley:

I took her to the vet today (Wednesday) for her exam and vaccinations, and she's ready for adoption into a new home. I'm so thrilled to know that her hard life outdoors is over, and thankful that from now on, she'll be warm inside with plenty of people to fuss over her at the shelter until she finds a new family.
This is the second cat this year that's come to our home needing rescue. I'm beginning to wonder if we have a sign on our door alerting them to our safe house??

And with that, I wish you all a very Happy Thanksgiving -- warmth, good food, and plenty of people to fuss over, family and friends.
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