1. First things first, we have a sleeve:

First Buster Sleeve

The first finished Buster sleeve, blocking

It’s not much to look at, I know. Joanna’s comment on my last entry got me seriously considering doing patterning on the sleeves to match the patterning on the body, but after giving it some thought and drawing a sketch, I decided that I’d prefer the less busy look of all-camel sleeves, even if they are a bit plain to knit and to look at. This knit up pretty quickly, and I think I got the size right on the first try — though I won’t know for sure until I do the seaming. It’s possible that I’ll need to rip out the cap and add an inch to the length. We shall see once it’s dry.

2. With one sleeve under my belt, I felt free to work on other projects, among them transforming my first ever finished object into something more to my liking. Stay tuned for updates later this week–and possibly a tutorial. Here’s a sneak peek:

Yorkshire sweater

Close-up of my first ever finished object

3. Last night, I attended a talk on Villa Louis in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, which has recently been restored and is chock full of reproduction Arts and Crafts designs of the 1880s and 1890s, including many wallpapers and textiles by William Morris. I found the wallpaper designs to be inspirational and am contemplating a few possible knitting projects incorporating them. I’ve ordered up a book so I can do some research. Isn’t this lovely?

Edited to add: I removed the wallpaper image, because people kept using it without saving their own copy and I got tired of the bandwidth hogging.

That’s all I’ve got today. Have a happy Monday!

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Edited to add:
The sleeve seamed in beautifully, but when I tried it on I realized it was too short and that the armscye needs to be longer, too. I suspected both of these things might turn out to be problems, but it’s hard to tell how sleeves will fit for sure before they’re set in. I’ve already added some length to the back and ripped the sleeve out to where I need to add more length. Now I just have to do that, reknit the cap, rip back and reknit another inch on the front, and try seaming it together again. This is turning out to be sort of a two steps forward, one step back project!