Progress Made on Salt Peanuts - but Painfully

Jeez, I didn't think I'd ever figure out that stupid collar. I have completed the left front of Salt Peanuts. I almost finished up to the armhole decreases while watching the CART race on the computer (since the Canadian sports channels were not airing it promptly), and then continued on after dinner. I was supposed to start the short rows (where one turns, does a yo and knits back over the collar stitches) on a row where the collar ended on a yo. This did not seem to work the first time around, so I went up another pair of rows - much better. Once I knew what the hell I was doing, I could do the double yo, which does work because the yos fall on different needles. All the short row crap was done after midnight (I ran into problems at 10ish, and I needed some time away, after searching the web for possible solutions). I think Salt Peanuts will be cute, but it's going to close a lot higher on me than it appears in the pictures. Which is fine - that and the screwup in the rib will make it mine, all mine. I screwed up and did two of the same eyelets in a row. I just need to make sure to make the same mistake on the other side, and I'll just call it a design element (ie, a mistake I found about 40 rows too late!)

I enjoyed the race, but I really should go check to see what (if anything) Paul Tracy said after the race. He is frequently entertaining. In hindsight, I should have tried listening to his radio feed, but it would have interfered with the actual broadcast. I'm glad they turfed Bob Jenkins, who's voice is like nails on chalkboard to me. Benjamin is not irritating, so I'll live. Love the fact that they had Jan Beekhuis back this week (he's so good - the only reason I watched Global's hideous coverage of the Canadian races last year. If he had not been there, I would have switched to the French channel) and the other guy - Chris McClure, I think - was OK. I also watched the F1 race, and watching Derek Daly running up the line was funny, but not entirely in a good way. He seemed a little desperate to me. Then again, he did speak with Cristiano DaMatta, which is always appreciated. I am also glad that Ralf Schumacher was not seriously injured in his crash - especially considering how long it took the medical crew to get to him. I couldn't believe it - those minutes can be critical in dealing with severe injuries. Guess I'm just spoiled by the speed of the CART safety team.

To return to knitting content, for those of you who found the previous paragraph to have been written in a foreign language, I have blocked the body of Rogue (but not the hood - still trying to figure out how to do that - maybe some towels) and one of the sleeves of Salt Peanuts. I really need to start sewing stuff together. No knitting of Kimono until Rogue and Swell are assembled. I keep checking my online credit card statement to see if a charge has posted for the yarn.