What's wrong with this picture?

On the left, a photo of the Rebecca sweater from the magazine. On the right, a photo of my partially completed front. Can you spot the difference?


Notice I didn't say, "Can you spot the mistake?" I didn't make a mistake. I followed the pattern correctly and my diamond pattern is smaller than the diamond pattern in the magazine. (If you didn't notice, there is one fewer lattice thingies on my sweater.) So, now I'm irritated because the sweater in the photo is very obviously NOT knitted from the same pattern that was published. This is the second time that I've discovered such a discrepancy.

I don't know how designers write up patterns based on their designs, but I assume that the published patterns are fixed up or altered from original designs to standardize the pattern or make it easier to knit. So maybe a published pattern may not produce a sweater exactly like the original design and the original sample sweater. That's fine with me. But the sweaters in the photos SHOULD be knitted from the pattern published! I pick my projects based on the photos. Doesn't every knitter? I don't want surprises.

So, I ripped back and made my diamond bigger. Now the printed chart is useless to me. But who cares, the cable pattern is simple and I can just read my work and figure out what I have to do next.


I AM famous!
Today I received an email from a reporter from the Pearland Journal. She wants to do a story on knitting and on the SnB that I started. I wonder how many little local papers I can get into. Maybe I should contact the Pearland Reporter News and see if they want to do a story, too. The good news about getting into the Pearland Journal is that the Houston Chronicle picks up stories from the Journal to put in the Chronicle's regional sections. Maybe I will hit the big time. A girl can only dream.

What about those gifts?
I just realized that I never described how the Peacock shawl and the lavender hearts were received. Mom loved the shawl and was very surprised. She had some friends over a few days after she received the shawl and showed it off to them. She said her friends were amazed and a bit jealous, too. My friends were also quite happy with their heart sachets and are proudly displaying them in their cubicles. The one friend who can knit was highly fascinated by its construction.

Edit to add:
The Facts article was published on Wednesday. It is available online if you register at the website. (Free registration) The link for the article is here, but I'm not sure if that will work for everyone. You can just go to The Facts website, and search for "knitting" in the past week. The article is titled "Freeport Knitter Gets to the Point." I'm not the Freeport knitter but I am mentioned and quoted in the article.