So remember yesterday, when I said I’d bought a ballwinder? It arrived today. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised because (a) The lovely ladies at Make One are both lovely and efficient, and (b) it’s not like it’s that far. Too far to pick up after work, yes. But nice and short for good ol’ Canada Post.

I think I will sell some of the stash. There’s a bag of chocolate-brown Waterspun sitting there that I’m pretty certain I won’t use. I bought it for the skirt from the Heathery Duo in an old IK (Fall 05 possibly?) and I’m not going to knit a skirt. At least, not that skirt. Waterspun is much too hot for a sweater. I knit Rogue out of it and have never worn it. Although…. I say that now, but I lived on the coast before. I bet you can wear sweaters that heavy here. And as I’m moving here in August and planning on staying… I think I need to re-think my thinking.

And, if this cold place means I can wear a Waterspun Rogue, I’m going to have to rip and re-do. Yes. The body and arms are a tad too short. The short that looks stupid. Although I could just undo and rip carefully, or add a band on the bottom of each. Hmm. Will look into that when I go home.

What better way to open my knitting blog than with a whole slew of pictures?

Trumpets sound! Rogue is done at last! The sweater I started in April! I love it so much. I did the seaming while watching the Olympics. The Canadian men not winning their 4 race is forever in the right shoulder. Classic Elite Waterspun. The gauge for Waterspun was off for the pattern, so I did some math, and figured out that making the 37″ would make a sweater that fits my almost-34″ self perfectly.

This is from the winter 2003/2004 Vogue knitting. They knit it in orange, I had this wool from the first scarf I made, Berrocco’s Hip Hop (thick/thin variagated wool). That was plain garter and ended up being over 8 feet long. As I’m 5′3″, I eventually decided to frog it, and find a different pattern, preferably wider. This one is about 6′ long, I think (actually haven’t measured). It was 2/3rds done when I brought it to Banff as my backup project. I really didn’t think I’d finish Rogue.
I was working in Banff for the summer, when I finished these two, and I wanted to go for a hike, and I wanted to take pictures of my FOs, so I decided to combine the two. I tried to do it when no one was around, but I chose a high-traffic path, so I got a few weird looks. And it was so cold at the top, I needed the scarf!

I came home to find this waiting for me from Elann.com:

The brown Waterspun is for the skirt from the ‘Heathery Duo’ in the Fall 04 Interweave Knits.
The White Buffalo is for the Cape Mod poncho from Stitch n’ Bitch, or as I am calling it, the Cape Cowichan poncho. It is the stuff they make Cowichan sweaters out of, after all. And living so close to Cowichan, I should remember that.
The day after I got home, I went to my LYS and bought:

I’m using one strand of the Shine (right) and one strand of the Pompon (middle) for the stripes in the poncho. The stuff on the left I couldn’t resist for some reason. I decided against using it in the poncho because the tufty bits are similar in colour and texture to the White Buffalo, and I thought it would look more like I’d snagged the wool, and less like trim.
This is the fabric I’m getting so far for the poncho:

Perfect for me, I didn’t want the stripes too bold and furry.
The poncho is an adventure, because with the White Buffalo, you’re knitting with 6 strands. Add in the trim, and you’re knitting with 8. I love the way it is knitting up though, good and warm, less scratchy than I remember my dad’s old Cowichan sweater being (although I was about 6 at the time I would hide behind it in the coat closet). It is a bit weird using such big needles after knitting Rogue.

In sadder news, the Michaels I worked at last Christmas did most of their seasonal hiring while I was being a housekeeper in Banff, so I’ll have to find employment elsewhere. No nice discount on all things crafty.