Done at Last!

TA-DA!

My First Man-size Sweater. My first cable. My first saddle shoulder (see why I couldn't do another shoulder?)

My goodness, isn't he handsome?

It isn't perfect. I suppose he could use maybe two more inches of ease. Just so he could put a button-down shirt under it comfortably. He would prefer another inch or two in the length, too. The sleeves are perfect, he says. *whew*

I think it fits him nicely. I think that I will make a note or two. I think I may make him another one. If I start soon, I won't have a problem getting it done for his birthday next year. The problem is usually unrealistic expectations, isn't it?
Oh, and yes Laurie finished before me. That was a low-down-dirty trick leading me to believe that she was going to run out of yarn. 5 yards is plenty of wiggle room. I was duped! Not that I would have finished any sooner than I did. Again, let's be real about our expectations. Good job, Laurie, now we have the warmest Hubbies in the 'burgh.

What's That Over There?

Happy Birthday, Dear Mister...

Wow, look at that cake!! I am so not a baker. I don't know what it is.
The only consolation is that they taste ok, they just look bad. I didn't take a picture of it cut because then you would see just how bad it was by the depth and unevenness of the frosting.




















But look, the Mister ate it and it did taste ok and he survived the experience. Oh, and he knows that I love him... I SAID AND HE KNOWS THAT I LOVE HIM! yeah, he knows. What? He isn't wearing a beautiful blue cabled sweater? Um... look at that crazy cake!
Ok, fine. I did not have the sweater finished. Indeed, I stayed up too late after this picture was taken and got all the way to the first saddle... huh? you thought I would do an easier shoulder just because I am never going to finish at the rate I am going... you fool.
Yes, so I worked all the way through the first saddle and then I apparently kept going. Yes, I think I may have knit nearly twice as much saddle as one would need for a shoulder. But, I am not sure. It depends on how one reads the directions and from which angle. How big is a Mister's cranium, anyway? How large a collar would one need if one is a lean guy, anyway? I could go on, however, you can see that I am thoroughly confused, yet again. So it sits and will probably sit until Friday when the ever lovely Laurie will once again save the day and the knitting, all at once.

After all that, I just had to get out of town!
Off to Indy with the brood.
INBA loves car trips. We hopped onto I-79 at the Bridgeville exit to go south to I-70. It is a grand 7 minutes from our house to this point in the 6 hour journey to Indianapolis. We merge onto the freeway and INBA yells out from the back seat..."Are we there, yet?"

Um, no.

And so it goes for 6 hours. Like water torture.








Being that it is Indianapolis, The Children's Museum has a replica of an Indy car for the kids to fight over, I mean, play on. And before I go much further, if you have any means to, please go to the Indianapolis Children's Museum with your family. It is very large, reasonably priced and very, very nice.















I know that it is only a matter of time before the boys try to make our house look like this... elevated track for the train.



















This is the clock in the entry of the building. It is glass with the water filling the bubbles to mark the hour and the minute. I am not exactly sure how it works but it is really cool to watch.














What a Handsome Lot!
My Sister, her son, My Mom and Eldest, Me and INBA, my Niece (sister's d), My Brother, His Girlfriend and his son, and her daughter. Whew!








This is what it looked like today here in the 'burgh. INBA is making train tracks. First on the driveway, then around the sandbox and then all over the back yard. He was out there for almost an hour walking in circles, following the track.
Obsessed...with...trains.

The Mister thinks that I have commitment issues. 8+ years of Marriage and I have commitment issues? Ok, maybe I have difficulty with buying 12 balls of yarn to make myself something wonderful... but that is more like an avoidance/procrastination issue. If I start a project, I have to finish... if I do not feel that I can finish in a timely manner... I just don't start. It isn't commitment, it is failure that I have a problem with.




So, that clarified, what is one to do when there arises monumental problems with a long undertaking otherwise know as the Mister's Blue Cable Sweater?

Did you say knit a glove??? Why yes, that is a splendid idea and I did just that.
The cuff is muslin Kroy sock yarn, the rest is hand-dyed Fernwood Woolworks, Garden Harvest. Such bright and lovely colors on a bleak, rainy weekend. I used the pattern from the knitter's handy book of patterns.
I discovered that I have a skinny palm and long fingers. Of course I figured this out after I knit the pinky. I left it a bit stubby and knit the rest of the fingers with try-ons before decreasing.





So what was wrong with the MBCS? Well, aside from having long arms (understatement) the Mister also has wide shoulders. This is a good thing, we wouldn't want to be swinging those arms from anything less. However, the Mister is much more narrow in the chest (that measurement which was used to calculate the body of the sweater) than one would expect with shoulders like he has. So when it came time to put his shoulders into the sweater, I realized that I couldn't decrease the way EZ wanted me to or the poor man wouldn't be able to put it on! 3 inches makes a difference, I would guess. So, I made a glove... until Laurie returned my desperate plea for help. The cure? Fake decreases.

These decreases are necessary for the saddle shoulder to look right, but I couldn't skip them because he needs depth for the armhole. So we faked it. Decrease and then increase and all is well. Brilliant, eh? I get depth but don't lose width!
Thanks, Laurie!!!
So I am now plugging away again. I have begun real decreases... but progress is slow. I have a couple of days until the Birthday...

Thank goodness he will have other gifts and cake to distract him.

How Much Are You?

The Mister's Aunt sent me this oh-so-amusing quiz . I will admit that this quiz thinks that I am 40%. BAH!

Speaking of The Mister... his sweater, the one with the never ending sleeves, has sleeves ready to be attached to the body. Yes, yes, yes, I know. I started that second sleeve nearly two weeks ago and just finished it this morning under duress of embarassment by Laurie, who would surely dance around the BN with her Husby sweater, telling anyone who would listen what a bad wife I am for not finishing My Mister's sweater when I had been working on it for so much longer than she had been. Yeah, don't let anyone tell you other wise, she's that kind of girl. (just kidding) But it is motivational, shame is funny that way.

I am not much of a Saleswoman. So much better at buying. This can be attested to by the amount of cosmetics that I am selling here. My (huge) loss is your gain... and I didn't want to say anything, but you have been looking a little dry lately.

Jumping for Joy. This would be me. I was so excited last night, I couldn't sleep. Oh, stop. The Mister was asleep hours before I went to bed to toss and turn. Only one thing could make me so happy... California Dreaming... we have the tickets, the rental car reserved, and a hotel booked. Can you see me GIDDY?! I cannot wait to see the peapod (10 1/2 pounds already, I hear!) I am sure that the debate shall ensue as to what to do with the rest of our time. I am also sure it will involve a shark and a park and maybe this one, too. And you know we will have to have (a couple) lunch here (the intro takes a second, but I like it.) I want to go to California Adventure, The Mister wants to go to Legoland. We may just end up at Knott's Berry Farm. I think that the Tar Pits would be a good place to revisit, but INBA is concerned about being stuck in one. These people taught me to knit mere weeks before we moved, so you know I have to stop in and thank them... with my money. It will be my souvenier, it is justified!!
I have no doubt that the list will become too long to be reasonably accomodated. That is the only sad part of the trip... oh, that and that we have to come back. Maybe, just maybe, I won't be devestated to get on that plane back to Pittsburgh. The first trip back to where you once lived is funny that way. That would be really funny.

Epiphany

Well, there you have it. Come and nearly gone and no sweater for my Mister. It was bold and I knew it was foolish to pretend... but I am still optomistic that the next 10 days will be more productive. Seriously, though, the Mister requires 22 inch sleeves (that is just up to his armpit!!) He takes offense when I embark on an hour of knitting the 'never ending sleeve', but dude, talk to your mom, I had nothing to do with it and I love you, anyway. Still, once I complete this sleeve, it will be number two. I will then only, only, be left with the shoulders and neck.

Hey, don't mock my optomism, I knit that frog in 14 days!!

Speaking of the frog. INBA has taken a liking to wearing his clothes backward, deliberately. (I guess this means that 5 is also going to be a special year.) Thursday he put the Frog Sweater on backward. When I pointed out that I cannot see the frog in back, he giggled and said, 'I know.' This morning again, he had pants and shirt on backward. I suggested today that perhaps it wasn't the clothing on backward, but really his nose and his toes were on wrong. For some reason he didn't like the thought of that. But he does not correct his clothing. And, Yes, I do let him go around dressed like that. Most people don't notice and as long as he is dressed, I don't have to worry about him catching pneumonia. I have bigger fish to fry.

I am working on a Red Scarf Project that I hope to have done by mid month. My sparkle socks are working past the gusset now, that is a car project. I am starting a new charity knitting project for hats for kids doing chemo. Great stash project as the requested hats are from fun fur. Oh, don't look like that, you have more fun fur than you are willing to admit. If it will make a kid happy...

Not so great news
I got a letter from my friend Jan's husband today. Lady K might remember Jan from my painting classes in San Francisco, she is the one who had a studio at Hunter's Point and we would go out for the open studio tours? Anyway, since moving from Northern California our conversation had dwindled to periodic catch ups. I knew she wasn't well, but... I wish I had had one more chance to catch up. She passed away. God rest her soul. She was a beautiful person.

Be grateful for your life and the people who populate it. Life is short and painful and wasted on foolishness. Be real, be supportive, be loving, be honest. Be the change.