Bottomed Out on the Top Down

Ah...The joy and frustrations of knitting a sweater from the top down. The sweet: you can try it on several times throughout it's creation by putting it on salvage yarn and trying it on. The bitter: You work on it for weeks and it's hitting your hips and you realize there is some funky thing going on with your decreases. You try to look past and keep on working but then you finally can't because you can envision it lying lonely and abandoned on a shelf like countless other sweaters. I decide, with a heavy heart, to frog 90% of it, basically to the point were I had divided for the sleeves. I think the problem was that I tried to decrease for the waist too drastically and it was bunching. I'm now working the decreases again but only every fourth row and I just tried it on again, thank god no weird bunching.

I finished the Tangled Yoke Cardigan oh....last summer and noticed that the buttonholes were a bit too big, I would button it and the buttons would slip right back through. I finally reinforced the button holes with some thread and they finally stay buttoned. I think that's one of my better pieces, although there seems to be some unevenness toward some of the top buttons, too much on side and it bunches when it's button. My solution, go for the casual look and don't button it.

In spring related news, we have a teeny tiny white flower in our front 'yard'. It looks like a cross between a lily and a tulip...also we have some bushes that flower and they are starting to poke through. I'm really awful with plant names so I can't tell you what they are, hey, I'm just glad that I noticed. Usually I'm sadly oblivious to things like that, guess I'm really yearning for Spring!

I'm continuing to do research on hotels for our Cali trip, currently working on the San Fran leg. We got a tip on a decent hotel from a friend but it doesn't have AC! How does a hotel in California exist without AC? I was wondering how it could be so incredibly cheap and I finally figured it out....I don't think we're wiling to take that gamble so the search continues. If anyone knows of a nice, clean, close to things hotel that won't break the bank, leave me a comment!