Mending Takes Time

I went to visit my Mom in the hospital today. The news is not good and waiting can be a pain but I have knitting to keep me occupied. I didn't drive so I used the time to repair a sweater that knitSB picked up at a thrift store for me. It's a perfectly fine J Crew sweater except the hole on the right sleeve forearm. It looks like the sweater was damaged when the box was cut open. See?



I needed something to take my mind off the reason for my traveling and opted to repair this hole. Mending takes time and I wanted (needed) to get this finished. I have some lace-weight light great alpaca I wanted to use. I was simply going to create a basket weave structure to prevent further stitches from unraveling.



It's not a perfect job beyond securing the garment and it pleases me. I was relieved there was something to take my mind off the reason for the trip.

I took another project to cast-on, toe-up socks out of Claudia's Handpainted Yarns worsted weight yarn (in the color: shark) on US size 6 DPNS. They are very fast and knitting up to a nice fabric. Pictures tomorrow.

Now, if I could just find a toe-up sock pattern with a great heel that I can knit without thinking too much.

Sweater Find

I've recently started going to thrift stores again. I've been losing weight and need some new clothes and have found some wonderful clothes that fit me now. Today's adventure was no different. I found two pairs of brown shoes (that look great after they were polished), two jackets, and a hand-knit Aran sweater. I spotted the sweater and wasn't sure if it was hand-knitted. I could see no tags and there was that special quality about it. I tried it on. It was scratchy and slightly large on me and should fit DH. Here's the sweater:



And the back:



I think this is an amazing find for $5.99. :)
Look at the front details:



And the back details:



I'm washing it a couple of times today and putting conditioner on it to soften it. DH has sensitive skin (*giggle*). If he won't wear it, I'll use it as a jacket.