The setting:  me on
the deck feeling a bit chilly on a lovely autumn day.

The thought:  I should
go put on a nice sensible wool hand-knit cardigan.

The action:  going
inside to look in my closet and realizing that I do not own

                        a
nice sensible wool hand-knit cardigan

The question:  why
don’t I – who have knit so much over so long – have a

                        cardigan?

Sarah says:  Mom, you
don’t knit sweaters.

Not entirely true, but sort of true.  Recently, I have knit more wraps and shrugs
and such.  (Aside from baby sweaters —
which are small and adorable and are one of the un-earned rewards of
grandmother-hood)  And I do have some
sweaters that I have knit for myself – but they are pullovers.  Except for a lovely angora cabled cardigan
(very, very warm and tends to shed — and the exquisite shell button slip out
of the button holes when I breathe) and a rather odd harvest gold lace cardigan
that is sort of a cropped length and has very, very full sleeves. . . .

I have a few purchased sweaters – a raggy little “home
sweater” in olive green (Old Navy) and a floaty buttonless eggshell-colored
cashmere cardigan (Eileen Fisher discount rack).  But no chic “run to the grocery store in your
jeans” cardigan.  No classic “walk in the
park amongst the falling leaves” cardigan. 
No splendid “sit out on the deck in the autumn sunshine” cardigan.

Now, with two Commissioned Pieces (for Pelagia Fiber Arts),
the Forbidden Summer Sweater, my Poncho Ferocity (the latter 2 being interesting
design projects with lots of potential), the Teetering Lace Shawl, the Afghan
of Guilt, and a Sock Project (for emergency mindless knitting)…well, I
certainly am not in a position to begin knitting a cardigan. 

So, I leafed through a yarn catalog – just to see what kind
of cardigan I was not going to knit.  And
I was particularly struck by the Rowan patterns.

Sarah says:  Mom,
there are LOTS of stitches in Rowan sweaters!

So, this morning I decided to surf to the Rowan website – to
investigate sweaters that are simply-out-of-the-question… And the website was
down!!  They have been having technical
difficulties and will have a new site up in early October “thank you for your
patience”!

Of course, this is a true gift to me from the Knitting
Sprites (who, occasionally, are kind) because I can answer my question and get
back to my knitting:

The question:  why
don’t I have a nice sensible wool hand-knit cardigan?

The answer:  because
the Rowan website is down!