I have the crud, according to my nurse practitioner.  That awful head cold thing that everyone seems to have right now, the one that won’t go away.  I’m on my second round of antibiotics and steroids for secondary bacterial infection (double ear infections and bronchitis), so I’m staying home, taking my meds, drinking hot tea and doing everything I can to avoid public areas for now, because we all know that it’s also the worst flu season in years, and (as someone who had her spleen removed a few years ago) I’ve been advised that I shouldn’t do anything to stress out my immune system any more than it already is.

And even though I feel like, well, crud, I’m also jazzed up on Prednisone–it always makes me feel jittery and restless.

I needed to find an activity to absorb some of that jittery energy (which combined with crud lethargy is a weird combination), or at least take my mind off of it.  The sweet little baby girl in our family will soon be turning a year old, and I decided to make something for her.  I found a crochet pattern for a pretty baby sweater by Michelle DuNaier on Ravelry.  Perfect!

I looked through the pattern and was cautiously optimistic that I could figure it out.  I only started crocheting again a few months ago, and usually let YouTubers talk me through projects, but I’ve skimmed through enough crochet patterns now to pick up most of the lingo.  And what I don’t know, I Google.

I chose colors that I thought were fun, and also strong.  No namby-pamby pale baby pink for this little girl.  Oh, no.  She is an inquisitive, bright, engaging baby.  No wallflower colors for her.

I pulled out the called-for crochet hooks, then looked through my collection of yarn–lots of them single skeins, most of them minus the paper sleeve that has the identifying info.  I haven’t needed to worry about them in the past, mostly crocheting scarves.

Below is the first pic I took, after I crocheted the yoke of the sweater and part of the main body.  The yoke is done in double crochet, and the body is a 4-double-crochet shell stitch.

I really like how it’s coming along, and with the colors I chose.  I’m eager at this point to see how it’ll look when I do the pink edging all the way around.

I’m even more pleased now.  I like the pink contrast to the green and blue.  I think it’s pretty and fun.  Next it was time to start on the sleeves.  I’ve never crocheted a piece of structured clothing before, and was more than a little intimidated about it even on so small a piece, but I just focused on one part of the instructions at a time, and created my very first crocheted sleeve.

It was at about this point that I began to worry I might not have enough blue yarn to finish.  I’d started with a nearly full skein and thought I’d have plenty.  Yeah, right!  That was a novice error, if there ever was one.  Below is how far my yarn went:

Yep, that’s it.  A sweater with a sleeve and a half.  Not much of a birthday present!  And without the identifying info for the yarn AND being housebound right now, I’m basically stuck.  With her birthday coming up, and I don’t have lots of time to wait until I’m cleared to hit the stores.  So, I’ve saved a small bit of yarn in a baggie and presented my dilemma to my dear hubby, who has generously offered to enter the yarn aisle at Walmart and look for more blue yarn (I’ve tried to impress on him how important it is to make sure it’s the right gauge and EXACTLY the same color).

In the meantime, I finished weaving in ends, sewing on buttons and adding a couple of hearts for embellishments.

I sure hope my hubby finds that yarn.  Wouldn’t it be a kick in the pants to only get this far and have to give it up?  By the time I’m out and about, can find the right yarn and finish the sweater, our little one will probably have outgrown it already.

So take it from me, someone who seems dead-set on learning things the hard way lately–MAKE SURE YOU HAVE ENOUGH YARN BEFORE YOU START! Or at least be smart about keeping the info about it.

I’ll let you know which way it goes.