For all the (generally sweet and good-natured) teasing The Boy does about my knitting and spinning, he totally threw me for a loop this past Friday night. We hooked up with some friends of ours while we were all up in Vancouver this weekend, and as we walked out of the bar he said to me: “here, give me that for a second” indicating my coat, which I was about to put on over my Rogue. Trusting soul that I am, I handed it over, even though it was raining (lightly).

At that point he says to our friends “I’d just like to point out the insane amount of talent and skill that went into this sweater she’s wearing (turning me around and pointing out all of the cable work) … and the pocket, which was my idea, and, and, and… “. The friends were suitably impressed, and I ’bout fell over dead. Who knew he’d not only noticed the sweater, but actually cottoned to the work and time that went into it? And the fact that he was impressed enough to Point It Out??? Yeah, he’s a keeper.

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After a thoroughly unproductive Friday and Saturday, I made all kinds of progress on several projects yesterday. This, above all else, made me feel good about the impending holidays. Whew!

I should have Barb’s Bella pullover done tonight, and can then get crackin’ on Tony’s sox, the F-man’s stocking, the hat for D (still even have to spin up the alpaca for that one…), and whatever else is in the stack that I still have to get done. But progress has been made! I no longer feel as though the holiday knitting is hopeless!

And, of course, once the holiday knitting is done, I can get started on Cute Baby Stuff for the soon-to-be-beavers! Hooray for cute baby knitting!

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I finished off the second pair of Socks That Rock socks this morning on the ferry, and, of course, put them on, stuffed my feet into my clogs, and went merrily about my day. Thinking all the while, mind you, that there was something way messed up about how I had woven one of the ends in, and that I’d have to fix that when I got home.

Fast forward to lunch. Trying on a pair of pants, I looked down, and… Yeah, I’m a dumbass. Before wearing socks, it’s really a good idea to take all of the big plastic stitch markers out. Dontcha think? Um… Yeah.

And DAMN these socks are girly. Girly girly girly. Almost kind of freaks me out. But I like them. Sheesh. What’s next? A skirt?

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Wow. WOW. This is totally amazing. Totally and completely awe-inspiring. (and no, I have NO desire to do this kind of stuff, but daaaaaamn! that’s impressive.)

Just the thought of knitting on size 11/0 needles… That’s .25mm, folks. POINT TWO FIVE. Yeah, my brain is balking at being wrapped around *that* concept. Hoo-ee!

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Ok. This is a first. Granted, I haven’t been knitting for all that long, but sheesh. This is the first time since I started knitting that I’ve been Too Sick To Knit. Seriously. This is the cold from hell. I can’t even remember the last time I was so sick that I stayed in bed for two solid days. Food? Screw that. Too much effort. Meh. This better pass in a big, fat hurry. I have Christmas knitting to do. Dammit.

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Pictures of Rogue, for yer viewin’ pleasure.

It’s blocking. Steam-style this go-around. I decided I couldn’t wait three days to wear it. No way, no how.

The hood, up close and personal, from the side:

…and from the top:

There you have it. If I get really ambitious, I’ll do one of those snazzy bathroom mirror pix with it on my body in the morning. But don’t hold your breath.

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… I hate the pocket. And I seem to have done *something* funky on the body, and my gauge seems to have been off by a significant amount, so the body is a lot tighter than I had planned or expected. Hmmm… Odd, since I had diligently measured both gauge and measurements as I was going. Or at least I thought I had. It’s not bad, and it’s not tight, just snugger than I had anticipated. And the pocket. Yech. Hateful thing. Staring balefully at me from my belly. Mocking me. Taunting me.

I have this vague notion that the pocket, in its entirety, was knit with a separate piece of yarn, and could, therefore, be removed without significant issue. I’ll have to go back through the pattern insturctions and verify that for sure. But I think, if I’m super careful, that I could remover that damn thing and make it go the hell away. Poochy little motherfucker.

So, while I had huge plans to wear Rogue to work tomorrow, I think I’m actually going to block it properly and let it dry for the few days I know it’s going to take. Sigh. I’m neither a mouse nor a man, but, alas, my plans always seem to go awry.

And no pix for you!
At least not tonight.

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I am *this* close to finishing Rogue. Another 30 rows of hood and it’s all done. Except for that one little problem. I realized this morning that I don’t have a flippin’ clue as to how to graft cables. D’oh! Better figure that one out in a hurry.

If you’ve done Rogue, please drop me a line and let me know how you did the grafting of the cables at the top of the hood. I’d love to know.

Thanks!

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I’ve been spending entirely too much time at the frog pond lately. But! It’s all good. I’m ok with it, really I am. Seriously, I have to channel the OCD somewhere…

The bottom edge of Rogue was buggin’ the hell out of me, so, yes, last night, with a little nudge from Lauren, I busted out with the scissors, and ripped the bottom edge right off of it and knit it anew. And it’s MUCH better now. Happier. Less flippy. Less… WRONG. Yay! Thanks, Lauren!

Rogue, now that the bottom edge has been fixed, is coming along swimmingly. My inital hope of having it done this morning was a total freakin’ pipe dream, but everyone needs a dream, right? The front and back are, once again, attached to each other, and the hood/neckline is all on one needle. This following two mirror-image charts at the same time thing is kinda challenging, but I’m digin’ it. Bigtime. And loving the cably goodness. I’m so close to being finished I can barely stand it. Tonight? Maybe? Probably not, since I still have about 50 rows of hood to go, but, you know, again with that dream thing.

And yeah, I still need to get off my lazy butt and post some pictures. I will. I promise. Just as soon as Rogue is done.

…and did I mention that I’m hating the pocket on my Rogue? Shit shit shit. Maybe I will learn to love the pocket. Maybe not. We shall see. Yes we shall. Verily.

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I’m reasonably positive I’ve posted since October 30th… Wonder what happened to those posts? Crap.

Whatever. I’m finally back from the Oregon coast and the bitchin’ Beavercraft weekend at the ocean. Once again it kicked all available ass. There were, get this, ELEVEN of us this year, plus one 9 month old (who knew any child could be that cute???) and two on the way.

As for what I managed to accomplish on the three day weekend of non-stop knitting? That’s right. Fuck. All. Nothing. I finished my second STR sock not just once, but THREE times. Three! Hooray for me! Finished three times, ripped out three times. Yay! (grumble). For whatever reason I just could not get the toe to be ‘right’. It consistently wanted to be very very wrong. Very wrong. In three different icky ways. It’s in the penalty box at this point, and will not be touched again until Rogue is finished.

I did manage to make some progress on Rogue (so the weekend wasn’t a total loss, and I didn’t really accomplish nothing, just mostly nothing), but I think I’ve made more progress on Rogue since I’ve been back than I did while I was at the beach.

On the ferry this morning I finished the left side of the front, and got a healthy start on the right side. With any luck I can start on the hood tonight, and maybe finish the whole thing by tomorrow morning. Then I can block the crap out of it and start wearing it. I may wind up having to tear the bottom few rows out of it and redo them on smaller needles, since the entire bottom edge is curling like a Canadian with some ice and a broom… We’ll have to see once it’s all blocked and done. But I won’t be surprised if I do have to do that. No big deal. (at least I have this idea that it won’t be a big deal. I could be very wrong on that front though).

Pix from the ocean weekend will be up in the gallery at some point in the next couple of days, just as soon as I get around to that. Which I will. Soon. I promise.

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