I Came, I Saw, I Conquered (Eventually)

I know it doesn't look like much, but this...

took two full days of quality time.






Time I could have spent:

• wrapping presents
• putting up the tree
• shopping (well, THAT's no great loss!)

Time I could have wasted:

• blogging
• surfing
• emailing
• raveling (We need to get busy folks. I am hereby announcing a crusade to get this word and its appropriate meaning into Webster's in 2008.)

But most of all, time I could have been traveling on the road to Morocco!

Two days, and all I had to show for it as of last night was this sad little line of cast offs ons.



I had a very specific list of requirements: The fastening tab for Sedona had to:

• Be knit into the vest's right front bodice - no picked up stitches.
• Achieve the same gauge as the body of the vest ( which, being a slip stitch pattern has drawn in considerably.)
• Either continue the color gradation of the body or, at least, coordinate with it
• Not be overwhelmed by the coloration of the yarn(s)
• Be easy enough for a beginning knitter to handle
• Be distinctive enough to anchor the piece (after all, it is right there up-front and center.)

Is that too much to ask?

Apparently it was. I tried cables, slipped stitches, texture, mosaic, one color, two color, same size needles, smaller needles, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera...

Ad nauseum...
Ad VERY nauseum...

Ad
IF-I-DON'T-GET-THIS-SOON-I'M-GOING-TO-HANG-UP-MY
NEEDLES-MOVE-TO-LITHUANIA-AND BECOME-A-SHEPHERD
nauseum...

I was actually getting worried. They can smell fear...

Let's see if it looks better blocked...

This is the fastening tab for Sedona. And it represents a great victory my friends. I have wrestled with the knitting demons and banished them to hell. ( You know hell...that place where all they have to knit with is cheap acrylic.) I have wandered in the wilderness* and the knitting gods have brought me home.

*If I'd known it was going to be so long a trip, I would have packed better.

I have been complimented in the past by y'all for my tenacity. But let's call it what it is:

Good old fashioned stubbornness.

It takes a lot to get my back up, but once it's there, it doesn't back down.

Not for love...
Not for money...
And DEFINITELY not for some ornery piece of knitting that thinks it can get the drop on me.

I mean, who's the boss around here? Huh? If I start letting a little slip of a UFO like this pissy placket get the better of me, what's next?

• Surly socks?
• Hoity-toity hats?
• Putrid pullovers?
• Crabby cardigans?
  
• Bratty blankets?
  
• Malevolent mittens?
  
• Snotty scarves?
• Short-tempered shawls?

I'm tellin' you, you just don't want to go there...

See? Even the cat doesn't want to go there. See him cowering under the knitting basket in the face of my towering wrath?

(The fact that there is a heating vent underneath said cat is obviously irrelevant. He has the utmost respect for the power of wrath. )

So, now that I have reestablished order to the universe and put my knitting firmly in its place, I can finish up this little sucker and work my way around to YOUR Christmas gift.

Here's a little teaser:

Nope, I can't tell you.

It's a sockret!

But it will be in your hot little knittin' hands by the weekend.

Feel free to knock it around a bit and show it who's boss.

I won't tell...

BTW, the tip as to the identity and location of "Deep Sheep" turned out to be a phony. (For those who are new to the game, see last Saturday's post.) I remain undeterred in my pursuit of this ridiculous delusion important issue...