Amidst the clippings of tracing paper, and trips to IKEA, I've also worked on the Red and Black Jailbird. I've finished knitting the body, washed, and blocked it. It was drying between two towels when I was not taking the pictures, because otherwise Sona's generous deposits of hair would have been even larger.
This way it does take much longer to dry, but if I have to choose between trying to prevent a cat from sleeping somewhere he wants to, or letting him, the cat wins. I just cover up things. I don't know why wet wool is so irresistible, but apparently it is the bestest bedding there is. He isn't at all interested in sleeping on the bed otherwise, only when I'm drying things.
I've finished knitting the hood. I've knitted 35 cm, and deemed it long enough compared to the sizes of my other hoods, but I'm not sure if it's what the designer intended or not. I've deviated from the pattern (got to have a pointy hood!) and since the designer has not given measurements or a schematic for the hood, I have no idea.
The first grafting of the hood failed miserably. I knitted to what I thought was the centre point and grafted the stitches towards the front edge. I was two stitches off at the edge. Ugh! There was no other option than to undo it and re-graft from the front edge in and adjust those two stitches at the point. I know that if I hadn't done that, the unevenness would have bothered me massively and I would not have worn the jacket.
The second grafting went perfectly — no stitches left over at all. I must have messed up at the point the first time, where I begun. It's drying right now after being washed and patted to shape on a towel. All that is left is to cut it apart and put it all together. This will be my first steek. Exiting!