Phew!

I enjoy reading the blog of Stephanie Pearl McPhee, a Canadian knitter and author of several books on knitting.  Stephanie isn't afraid to admit she makes knitting mistakes, even though she's been a knitter since age four and is now in her 40's.

Recently, while kntting a cardigan for herself, for instance, Stephanie accidentally burned the edges of the finished project by placing it in a warm oven to dry after blocking. In the process of re-knitting the burned edges, she discovered she'd accidentally knit the two front panels two inches shorter than the back. And finally, to add yet more insult to injury, after lengthening the two front panels, Stephanie  realized she'd accidentally crossed incorrectly two of the cables of her design. You've got to admire a world-famous knitter who will admit to three careless errors on one project!

But Stephanie's blog posts about her ill-fated cardigan aren't my favorite of her recent blog entries. My favorite is this one:    http://www.yarnharlot.ca/blog/archives/2011/12/24/merry_christmas.html: "The Proper Way to Receive a Knitted Gift." I especially enjoyed this post because I've given my share of knitted gifts, and I've not always been convinced the gift was well received or, in fact, ever worn or used. In addition, I was giving my great niece, Violet (age 6), an Aran cardigan this Christmas, and as December 25 drew nearer and nearer, I grew more and more convinced that I should have spent the hours eaten up in the knitting of this sweater on something else, like several pairs of socks for myself, for instance. (I like my handknitted socks and wear them throughout the winter. There's nothing like handknitted, wool socks on chilly feet.) Would a six-year-old care about a handknitted Aran cardigan? It seemed less and less likely as the calendar closed in on December 25.

Then I hit upon the idea of using the leftover yarn of Violet's sweater for a sweater for the little lamb I'd also made for her. And then I remembered I'd bought Violet a pair of deep purple leggings, and I had some deep purple yarn scraps, so why not knit the lamb a pair of bib overalls, too? That way, if by some miracle Violet did like her sweater, she could wear it on days when she and her little lamb felt like dressing as twins. 

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Today Violet's mom sent me the photo above of Violet and her lamb. The post title said, simply, "Today Violet chose her own outfit."

Mission accomplished.