Fail!

I did a big load of hand wash today and felt very proud of myself. That is, until I pulled out my Castlegar Cardigan. Those awesome vintage glass buttons are completely ruined. I nearly cried (there have been other frustrations today and this tipped the scale) while patting out my sweater on the towels. There was no agitation, no twisting, nothing that would cause damage except for maybe the nice long soak? All I know is that the white background of the button which allowed the crows to stand out in relief is almost completely rubbed off on some buttons and totally gone on others. I still love the sweater itself but now have to hunt down other buttons to sew on since the glass is too shiny on it's own. If there wasn't a crazy toddler and a sick husband in the house I'd be off the bar to eat some really bad-for-me food and cry into a gin & tonic. Blar.

I was pleased to read that you all share my love of cuff-down socks since I'm really struggling with gathering motivation to finish the first Cleopatra Stocking. Short rows are awkward, the wraps never look very good, and I don't like having to page through the 10+ page pattern. I guess they look nice, though.