In December 2005, I learned to knit.

Around April 2006, I saw Rogue and decided I wanted to knit it.  Steph looked at me like I was crazy and showed me the giant Page O’Abbreviations and explained to me all the reasons I couldn’t knit it.

I learned to cable, figured out I prefer it to just about any other knitting technique, made a variety of cabled sweaters, then started looking for yarn I might want to use.

Five months later, I finally got back around to it, realized I had an extra skein (yes, one) of Naturally Caron lying around in a colour I loved, and cast on merrily last Friday afternoon. After one frogging to fix the gauge, I started rolling right along.

I’m in love.

It’s enough counting to make it therapeutic for my OCD, I have to pay attention to the side cables each row but can still watch tv (or a Party of Five box set) while I knit it, it’s actually coming along more quickly than I expected.

Then I ran out of yarn (because 185 yards only gets you so far), so I have to go to the store tomorrow before I do anything else. Whoops. I would be more concerned about dye lots, but I’ve mixed them before with this brand without incident.

The only pictures I have so far don’t really show the colour accurately – it looks way too light. The shade is actually a dark-aqua called “peacock”. Plus, well…everyone’s seen Rogue before, and at this point it’s just pictures of the bottom of the side-cables, so I don’t actually need to post it Maybe photos to follow when I’m further along.

Well, with the Bar Exam drawing near (panic commencing in 5, 4, 3, 2…) and the family vacation beginning immediately thereafter, I need to start figuring out what project I want to take to work on at the Lake.  About 9 days, can’t be any of the kippot because my family isn’t so aware of the conversion, and nothing too…well…gay.

I’ve had a few skeins of black acrylic yarn sitting around since about February or March, with the intention of the making some kind of sweater.  It was during my secondary Sam Seaborn phase – we all need some kind of kickass black sweater that manages to make a person look casual and hot at the same time, right?  But if I just make a regular, ribbed-bottom/stockinette-body, I’ll be bored to tears by day 2.  Especially considering that I have a hard time ramping <i>down</i> after an exam, so an easy project that requires no thought would drive me nuts.

Pictures to follow.

Rejected from Knitty because the pictures aren’t great and the finishing looks sloppy, apparently. But the pattern works and is perfectly knittable (and fast.  Everyone likes fast patterns, right?  Two weeks, CO to FO. Who doesn’t love that?)

View the pattern here.

You know the feeling where you want to work on a project?

That deep-in-your-gut desire to work on something you haven’t touched in awhile? The eagerness to race to a bind-off? The anticipation that comes from buying a new skein (or ten) and knowing exactly what you want to do with it?

It feels great, doesn’t it?  Exhilarating and creative, even if you’re just following a pattern, thinking about what the next part’s going to look like, planning the perfect pair of jeans or tank top to wear it with when it’s completed (nevermind that it’ll probably be several months before that day comes, if you’re lucky and dedicated).  It’s a sort of natural antidepressant.

But you know when it sucks?

When it’s finals week, you have a take-home due in two days, you’re only on page four of a fifteen-page outline for another class, you have another class you don’t understand a word of, you have to clean up your entire apartment because your family’s coming in for your graduation in ten days…and all you want to do is knit.