Does everyone have a favorite “hang around the house” sweater?  Mine is a ratty and worn olive green cardigan from Old Navy – I bought it, oh, ten years or so ago and it probably cost about $15.00.  I love it dearly.  It is a cotton/acrylic blend with a teensy bit of wool. Smackish yarn.  Kinda stretched out.  But I wear it almost everyday.

It has held up amazingly well – probably because I hardly ever wash it (who wants to part with a favorite sweater long enough for it to “lie flat to dry”?!) and it has the feel and patina of my kids’ lovey blankies.  But it only developed a holey bit about two weeks ago.  Not surprisingly, at the left elbow – the elbow I tend to lean on when knitting in my favorite leather chair. 

Darning sweaters is not my favorite activity, but I finally decided that I should do something before the damage became worse and the lower part of the sleeve fell off altogether.  After a little study, I decided it needed a patch of sorts.  I whip-stitched around the hole edges to stabilize it, settled down with a moderately interesting indy sci-fi movie and Nicky Epstein’s Knitted Embellishments and got to work. 

Leaves, without question.  They would lie flat – I am not so overcome with whimsicality that I would put bumpy fat flowers on the “elbow-leaning” portion of my sleeve.  I was tempted by a butterfly in Lesley Stanfield’s 150 Knitted Trims, but decided the body would be a thick nuisance under my elbow.  And leaves suited the sweater.  And I like leaves.  The knitting went quickly, as did the appliqué process.  Done.

So, here it is.  It makes me happy!