Spring cleaning in the UFO pile

Ah, luxury! No real knitting deadlines looming at this time, time to take a look at the UFO pile. The biggest UFO of them all is Bill's OXO Gansey. When last we saw it... in October... it was only about 62 cm along, heading for 81.5 total. Well, look what a lot of basketball watching time has got us:

(Do click to look at the larger version of this.. otherwise it looks like a tiny blue rag. In person, I think it looks great!) Since the photo was taken, I've finished the last half centimeter of this back piece and cast on for the front. Having made good progress on OXO... and unable to face another 83.5 cm of solid blue at this time - I reached in to the pile to come up with Fog Chaser and 5 (five??) nearly-finished baby sweaters.

Fog Chaser... remember how lovely? Mohair, many colors.. looking so good until I sewed the sleeves on wrong. Grrrr! Mel and I are planning a "rip out and re-set your sleeves" support group date sometime next week. We both abandoned projects after discovering that we'd done the sleeves wrong. Actually.. I think Mel put her sleeves in wrong with bad info from me. So we're going to get together again and conquer the sleeves. I'm sure it's going to be infinitely too warm to wear Fog Chaser next week by the time I finish it, but it will be finished!

And the baby sweaters... 5 of em! EeeeeeeEEEEeeeeeK! I lined them up and decided to start with the easiest to finish. Here they are, as of the last time they appeared online:

And here are their states. At trivia at the Britannia Arms, this would be a "Five will get you ten" match'em. In no particular order, these are the current states of projects targeted in Spring Cleaning:

• stalled out in the crochet phase and missing a button


• started in 2003, this one now needs only sleeves sewn in and a neckline trim


• lacking side seams and the dreaded embroidery


• needs only buttons and a wash


• sleeves done, nothing assembled, needs a collar

I guess just the baby sweaters will keep me busy on my "don't move until we tell you it's OK" quiet weekend at home. However, after locating this many UFO's in one my very first pass, I stopped looking. All other UFO's are going to have to wait and see if this first sweep is successful. So for you scarves, shawls, Elvis wigs, adult-sized garments... Hang in there!

Mama knits her first socks!

Taking a detour from talking about my own knitting to toot Mom's horn. I am soooo pleased to report that my mom is knitting her very first socks. Now, Mom's been knitting for about 40 years and she's never knit with double points, so I thought it was a bit of a stretch when I gave her the American Red Cross Knit Kit for her birthday this year. But it was so cute and has the historical tie to WWII, which I thought might catch her interest. So I was kinda hopeful when she brought it with her to California on her visit this month.

After we wrapped up the Wedding Weekend, I showed her how to cast on on double points and she tried those - and hated 'em. She was all for tossing the whole kit at that point. But I cast again on two circulars using a tempting "valentine" colorway from Lorna's Laces and showed her how to knit a sock on two circulars. She really took to it quite well and by Thursday was knitting away on her sock (using size 2 circs, not the size 5 dpn's that came with the kit!). During the basketball games this weekend, she kept working until yesterday she got to the bottom of the leg and turned the heel:

Today at SnB, she finished the decreases down to the original 60 stitches and got going on the straight bit of the foot. If all goes well, Monday night, we'll be grafting the toe! Just in time, too, since Mom leaves on Tuesday morning (booo!).

She's been a total trooper about trying out all these new technques under some serious time pressure, since we're trying to finish the first sock before she leaves. Here's what we crammed into our one week: sock knitting, knitting a small tube with two ciruclar needles, turning a traditional sock heel, and Kitchener stitch. Now that is a lot to tackle on vacation!

Coolest of all: today mom bought more sock yarn at Rug and Yarn hut - 3 different colors! - and an Ann Norling sock pattern with different sizes for kids & grownups. She is all set to make herself some funky multi-colored spring socks! I feel like a sock ambassador, spreading sock love. Very very cool.

We now return...

... to your regularly scheduled knitting. Starting Sunday, when the wedding bliss was over, I picked up the OXO Gansey for my darling spouse-o. I did some knitting over the weekend during the basketball games. I've decided to spend my NCAA tournamet basketball watching time working on OXO, in hopes of getting at least the front and back done in time for his birthday in April... LATE April. Wish me luck, because the dang thing is slow going. I started July 3rd last year and I've got 66 cm completed on the back (garment is worked in flat pieces) on my way to 82 cm. At least I'm in the exciting patterned part rather than the 44 cm of boring stockinette. Even though I like the project, 160-ish stitches in a row (knitting flat) in very firm cotton makes for pokey progress. But I am totally excited about the idea of making my man a new sweater.. the last one he got from me was in approximately 1989!

And from January, you may recall the Diamond Seed Baby Jacket, DSBJ, which now consists of a finished body with no collar or sleeves. I worked the shoulders with short rows and a three-needle bind-off this morning, following in Janice's footsteps by using some of her pattern mods. DSBJ is my "porta-project" for carrying around everywhere with me, since the OXO realy requires a large carrying capacity and a place & time where it's OK to turn my hands blue with denim dye.

Shawl photo

Our friend Rick took these two photos. First we have Susan wearing our fairy godknitter's version of the Shawlapalooza wrap at the wedding reception. The second one is of Rebecca/knuknitter wearing a Charlotte's Web I made for her at the after-party. Photos:

      

Shawlapalooza: Wedding bells rang

Hi there! I've been MIA for about a week, and not just from this blog. We had a busy week preparing for my brother's wedding to knuknitter. Monday, March 7th was "mom prep" day - cleaning up the house and getting the guest room ready for Mom. Tuesday she arrived at 5 pm, just in time for a wedding band rehearsal at our house that evening. Wednesday Mom, spouse-o, myself, brother & knuknitter dined at Brigitte's French restaurant in Santa Clara. (Do not miss this restaurant if you live in the south SF Bay area.) Thursday we had a whirlwind trip to San Mateo after work to visit the bride and groom in their newly rented bungalow. Friday we watched Illinois basketball, had lunch with friends in town for the wedding, and did rehearsal plus rehearsal dinner. Tired already!

Saturday of course was the ceremony and it was personal and beautiful and just the right temperature. Everyone was gorgeous and happy and a good time was had by all. I have no photos yet to show you because a) I was standing up and Bill was playing in the band for ther reception so we didn't even take the camera and b) the photos I do have from others need permission from those picutred before I can post them. But trust me, everything was beautiful.

We did have 3 completed shawls in the hall on Saturday and miraculously it was almost cool enough to want them. Best Woman wore hers, mine was tucked away in a bag under the gift table and Sister of Honor on the other side left hers in the room where we changed upstairs. So we only had one shawl at a time at the party, but everyone admired it and the amount of care that went into making these beautiful objects for the wedding gals.

I wore mine Saturday evening and found it very cosy, perhaps a bit long, and defintely worth wearing. Knuknitter wore the Charlotte's Web shawl I knit for her all the time she wasn't wearing the bridal gown on Saturday. She was born to wear drapey shawls, it looks awesome on her. That photo should be up tomorrow.

I got to give the "best man" toast because the actual best man didn't want to do it and shower my well-wishes on the bride & groom. They used five themes for their marriage: Partnership, communication, intimacy, community and adventure. May they have all five and love in abundance for all their days.

Shawl-a-palooza progress: Janice finished!

On Tuesday evening, Janice sent email reporting that she had finished knitting the first of our three wedding wraps. That was 10 days of knitting to make an entire wrap measuring about 80 x 20 inches. I got a chance to pick it up from her Thursday. Here it is, looking like a long skinny snake:

I am so grateful for Janice's help on this project. We would clearly not have been able to finish without her. I know she was both allergic to the mohair and coming down with something as she knit for us. So her knitting was really above and beyond the call of duty. Thank you, thank you, Janice!

knuknitter, a.k.a The Bride reports that she is nearly finished, just the decreases to go. I've only got about 40 inches in my straight section - I need about 15 more inches before I can decrease and I think I've got plenty of yarn, especially with Janice's leftovers.

I had been planning some sort of edging for these wraps - a row of crochet or a picked up garter stitch edge. But I am reconsidering after input from the crew at today's Stitch-n-Bitch i Campbell. Several people thought that a border would spoil the effect of the stripe pattern. Hmm... less work.. more aesthetically appealing... I might be able to get behind this "no border" plan

We're really past wedding planning and into wedding activities now - bachelorette party and spa day for ladies of the weddind party took place this weekend. Both events were great fun.. but neither one really allowed for much knitting! So here I am parked in front of the TV knitting away to meet our deadline. T minus 6 days and counting.