Juno Returns

Once I pulled Juno out and figured out where I was, it was pretty fast to add the front bands. Here is a detail of the front bands all finished up! (the left front band is hidden behind the right front band.) I haven't put the buttons on yet because I plan to steam block the front bands and the collar - both before and after I sew it on the neckline. I've also sewn the shoulder seams together but I'm going to wait before I seam up anything else. I want to get the collar on before I add the sleeves (just so I have less to deal with while sewing the collar) and then I'll do the side seams.

I've barely started the collar, so I didn't bother photographing it for today (it looks like a tweedy black worm on a knitting needle - very exciting, no?) As I was working on it, I realized that the directions have you work a 2 stitch cable on the first two and last two stitches of the front. Why? I've got to use the first stitch of one side of the collar to seam it to the edge of the cardi. Isn't a cable there just going to make it almost impossible to seam well and look like a demented pelican did the finishing work on my sweater? Unless anyone who has done this sweater can give me a good reason for this, I'm not working the cable on the inside edge of the collar. I'll put it on the outside, but that's it. (I've already checked for any "selvedge stitches" that aren't given in the stitch directions but are there anyway to make sewing it up easier - there aren't.) I looked at the Juno's in Ravelry, but I only looked at about 20 of them and no one seems to mention this issue.

In other news, Finn has gotten protective of Barclay. Ramius seems to have had enough of the visiting animals so he's taken to randomly chasing Barclay and smacking him around (no claws). Ramius gets in trouble when I see him do it, but like any self respecting cat he doesn't really care about anyone else's opinion. The other night, he went after Barclay again and was chasing him down the hall, smacking at Barclay's rear legs. Finn was farther down the hall and he ran towards Barclay and Ramius and chased Ramius back up on the bed, away from Barclay. Barclay seemed to appreciate it, as he doesn't really understand Ramius' problem and he kept either Finn or me between himself and Ramius all night. The next morning, Ramius walked right by Barclay as if he wasn't even there, which is much nicer than chasing him.