Sweater!

My rogue is finally finished!

Those of you who are not knitters may feel free to ignore this entry entirely.

I started this sweater 2-3 years ago, and have been working at it on & off ever since. I didn't let myself knit the summer I was studying for MCAT, so it has been ignored for months at a time.


It's knit out of Cascade 220 in a heather colourway (9443). It's a dark red with a bright blue heathered into it.

This pattern is available at www.girlfromauntie.com.

I did the cardigan modifications because I really don't like pullovers. They're always too hot and make my hair all staticky in the winter.

Issues that I had were:


1. I did the hem modification where you start the hem on smaller neeldes before a turning row. Then you knit the length of the hem and knit each stitch together with it's corresponding cast-on loop. Sounds genius, but I may have got my row count wrong or something, because it was extremely flippy, and the hem was always pointing straight up when I tried it on.

I'm a pretty easygoing knitter, but it just looked stupid. So I got very brave and cut off my original hem. Then I knit downward and just made a plain old hem that had to be sewed down in the traditional fashion. I cut one row closer than I had planned, and almost ended up messing with the cabling. So close.

2. I have a little cable-crossing error that doesn't bother me enough to change it at this point in time.

3. I forgot the pocket. Doh! Wasn't paying attention at the point in the pattern where you are supposed to start it. Oh well, I may get bored and try to find a creative way to add pockets later.



I weighed this sweater before putting in the zipper and it was 603 grams. So just over six skeins. Not bad considering I lengthened the body and the sleeves.

This was a fun pattern and I'm so happy with the finished product. It fits me well. I put in a 24 inch zipper so I can keep my neck warm when it's windy out. And now for more pictures!

Stampede

I have decided that I hate working in Calgary during Stampede. It's too hot to sleep, and as soon as I do sleep, the fireworks go off. Then I get to sleep again just in time for all the drunks to make it back to our neighborhood screaming. Veterinary clinics do not close for Stampede, and they don't pay their employees to stand around eating pancakes and drinking beer like the downtown workers, which leaves me rather jealous. So as I am self-employed, I was able to decide that I no longer work that part of July. I had my cousin's 13 and 15 year old daughters come to Calgary, and took them to Stampede instead.

We had a lot of fun. Mike and I are old and boring, and I get motion sickness VERY easily, so we set them loose on the rides and had them check in with us at regular intervals. Thank goodness for cell phones.

My inner redneck LOVES watching motocross. There wasn't any there, but there was a fun BMX show. It'll do.



Mike was rather obsessed with eating as many foods "on a stick" that he could find.

He had a corndog, and ice cream on a stick, but his favorite was pizza on a stick.
We all agreed it was quite tasty.


I also enjoyed the pickle kabob on a stick:

My favorite indulgence was the funnel cake. Mike's cell phone camera managed to capture the holiness of the crumbs and powdered sugar left on the plate:

It's a good thing we went over several days. Especially since Davina was on a successful quest for deep fried oreos. That's too much grease for a single visit.

I wasn't sure how a boring couple of people like Mike and myself were going to entertain teenagers. What I forgot is that when I was a teenager, there was no internet! Give them a laptop and they can amuse themselves for hours. Mike was giving free geek lessons. Katie is a star pupil:


Davina and Katie are fun and smart kids, and we enjoyed having them around. I managed to keep the cat allergens in our house from killing Davina by drugging her with antihistamines every few hours. I'm not sure her lungs would have survived a longer visit, though. I sent them home with the first season of Veronica Mars. They of course became immediate addicts and I had to ship them seasons 2 and 3 ASAP.


I wonder if I'm brave enough to do it again next year?