Eh--Seavaiger, but then, Mr. Rochester

I hesitate to show this project because it was so frustrating to me and I don't love the end result. I may end up giving it to one of my girls or frogging it all together.  That's what I get for stash-busting. 

This is Kate Davies' Seavaiger pattern, and while the first release of it did not garner my enthusiasm, a second cropped sample convinced me to buy the pattern. Samples matter, people. I was trying to figure out how to use up a couple of stashed balls of Palette yarn that coordinated and decided to give this one a go.

Everything was fairly straight forward until the body divide.  You knit straight in the round for however many inches you want (I ended up with 7" for this cropped version and think that is about right; Kate's cropped one is 5" and the full length one is 11"), then you start shaping the dolman with increases on the sides.  After that you divide for front and back and that is where the trouble began.  I decided to slip the edge stitches to get a neater edge to cast on the sleeves, but that produced a fairly firm edge, particularly on the side that I was carrying the yarn color changes on.  Mistake #1.  

The pattern has you knit 5" then start short rows.  Mistake #2, although I should have caught this one at the time.  5" on each side gives you less than 10" circumference in the sleeve, and even if the dolman is close to your elbow, 10" is pretty small.  My biceps are less than 11" at the fullest now and the sleeves are almost too snug.  I ended up closer to 6" because I lost track of it, but even that is just this side of snug.  

Then are the short rows, of which you are supposed to do 15 each side (!) before the neckline.  I noticed many people complained the neckline was too tight and high, so I did this with some trepidation.  Mistake #3.  First attempt was ridiculous.  I tried reducing the number of short rows to 11 in back and 9 in front with some neck decreases, which helped slightly, but not nearly enough.  Attempt #3 was what I ended up with (I have what ended up working as a mod in my Ravelry notes, but the short version is knit 3 short rows, then start neck decreases along with short rows until you have no more stitches).  

Mistake #4 was with the sleeve cast on, as you simply cannot pick up and knit 72 stitches in 10-12" of space at this gauge.  I had approximately 52 rows to work with, and cast on 52 stitches.  I knit one row, then increased enough stitches to get to 74 and then worked the sleeve decreases every 8 rows until I got to 52, then knit another few inches before the ribbing.  

The sleeve joins ended up asymmetrical for some reason and the left sleeve join looks slightly odd as some of the stripes sort of end in no-man's land.  Not really sure how that happened since I did the short rows the same on both sides.  

I'm trying hard to reserve judgement because I know I'm not in a wonderful headspace right now. It is Bright Week and I'm still exhausted from Holy Week and Pascha. My dad restarted chemo at the beginning of Holy Week because his cancer has returned and my FIL has had a series of unending crises the past couple of weeks that are just stressful. Oh, and my husband's cousin died quite suddenly at the start of Holy Week. And the dryer died (but has been resurrected thanks to a good repairman plus an electrician friend at church).  And don't get me started on the raging teenage hormones in the house.  Times four. Never rains but floods, amiright?

On the plus side, we finally got a garden plot in our community garden after being on the wait list for YEARS and even lucked out with a double plot that has a mature strawberry patch and other perennials! 

It is 10'x20', so a goodly size.  I put in a bunch of mulch this week and it looks a lot better with most of the thistle and other weeds gone.  The irises and the rose bush are blooming and the two peonies are about to bloom.  The spring flowers were done by the time we got the plot, but I'm excited to have lots of daffodils for next year, as we all know my feelings about the dafs.

It needed a lot of weeding and other heavy work, but I'm thrilled with the space and the opportunity to experiment with growing food that needs full sun, as the back patio light situation isn't ideal.  

I'm on a deep dive down the rabbit hole with Toby Stephens' work so am working my way through Black Sails and thoroughly enjoying his Captain Flint.  The show is conceived as a kind of prequel to Treasure Island.  I have some complaints about the show more generally (way too much unnecessary swearing, particularly by female characters, among other things) but the writing and character development is great and the production values are superb.  

In other period work, Stephens' Mr. Rochester might just be my favorite; I had thought Michael Fassbender's was the definitive performance for me, but the 2006 BBC version is even better.  Private Lives is next in the queue.

I read Dune for the first time in April and enjoyed it, although I don't think I'll be reading the other books in the series. I've been working my way through the Saxon Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell for a few years; I finished book six (of 13) in early April and have the next one teed up on my nightstand. I'm currently working on Kairos, a translation of a German fiction book set in East Germany in the 1980s. It was long listed for an international prize and while the beginning was promising, I'm a bit bogged down in the middle. The author frustratingly doesn't use grammar conventions with dialogue and it is often hard to tell who is speaking. I also started A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, which is a tough read at times, but very compelling. I keep hoping that the filmed stage version with James Norton in the main role will be released for streaming.

Right then, that's me.  I should probably take a nap or something.