Clean Up

Yes the New Year is closing in and it's time to clean up those UFO's from 2007. The biggest one is the sweater for my 19 year old son which I started last spring and got sidetracked by knitting for the Button Up Your Top Down book and never got back to it. Leaving it this long has been praying on my mind since I hate to discourage a child who wants his mother's knitting but it has also given him the chance to Change His Mind. These are the new requests: it needs to be longer (OK, he has grown another inch, we can let that one pass but it's a really good thing I knit this from the Top Down), it needs a thumb hole in the cuff (I hadn't got to them yet), and it needs a hood (a what???).

I had the body and 1/2 of one sleeve done when the requests came in. Now I have finished one sleeve with the thumb hole, I have one more cuff to do, I can take out the cast off and put on one more stripe in lime green and then ... the hood. I'll have to research this. I've never knit a hood. I think I'll leave the ribbing in place and take out the cast on round and then we'll see. Could be interesting.

My son has a 34" chest (and he's almost 6' tall and yes I do feed him occasionally) and mapped out this sweater himself which is 42" around, with the new stripe on the bottom it will finish at 28" long and the sleeves including the cuffs are 23" long from the underarm. The beauty of knitting from the top is that I could do all of this and try it on to be sure as I went along. I have very oddly shaped people living in my house. I am 5' tall but if you take my son and add about 4 more inches and stretch everything up and a little out you have my husband. Yes we are one of those very odd looking couples you see on the street and I never realize how odd until I see photos of us standing together. Everyone looks tall to me.

I am especially glad to see the end of the 'black' phase. He now has a turquoise ski jacket, red snow pants and turquoise shoes. Yes my kid is back. And he wants a sunshine yellow hat to match his ensemble. I'm on it.

-Deb