Seams to be a Sweater

Yesterday was an exciting day. Our smallest hen, the Sicilian Buttercup, had gone on an unauthorized walkabout the evening before, despite (because of?) the new pen. Frantic, weeping children and dire predictions of store-bought Easter eggs, as she's the only hen who lays white eggs suitable for dyeing, ensued. The morning was spent fruitlessly searching and printing up "Lost Hen" posters. We had to wait until the late hour of 9:00 a.m. to call the city Animal Control, who cheerfully told us that they had just gotten a call the evening before about a chicken. The kids asked if I thought it might be ours. "How many hens could have gotten out in this city last night?" I asked them. The authorities couldn't remember where, exactly. . . but they'd let us know.

Five minutes later we got a call from a lovely woman in a direction we hadn't thought to look, who said, "Yesterday, I was out front pulling weeds, and this chicken came walking across the street. She was really friendly." That's our girl! We assembled a thank-you present of some eggs and paraded to the next block to reclaim the prodigal. Unfortunately, every time she's out of the coop, she flies to the top of the pen to escape again. They're all under house arrest now.

During park day, I got to knit! At the same time, Thing 1 practiced for her big DI competition on Saturday, and during the evening, with the help of Mr. Swift, I turned this nice, but enormous, store-bought sweater (found at a thrift store for $2.00)



Into this



It's a good, 2-ply 100% wool, and I'm looking forward to working it into something nice. Why can I indulge in fantasies like this?

Because, last night at 11:00, this is what I had ready:


Please forgive the blurry picture and the slipper toe. I was too excited to hold the camera still. Since Things 1 and 4 and I are going to spend the night away from home tonight, in order to participate in the state competition tomorrow, I plan to turn these quadrants into an actual sweater tonight and tomorrow. We'll see how successful my cap shaping changes were when I sew it up. My Danish friend says she knits everything from the shoulders down in the round, because she hates cap shaping. Maybe. I didn't confess how difficult I found making sleeves symmetrical without simultaneous knitting, just thanked her for her suggestions and backed away.

While the three of us are gone, the home remainders have been making noises about "walking to the candy store" and "playing Daddy Crocodile." I wonder if they're going to have time to put a roof on the chicken pen? Probably not.

It's good to be needed.