A few things I'd like to do this weekend:

1) Start Kittyville hat for my niece. (Already have yarn for it.)

2) Work a bit on my opera length armwarmers/mitts. Already did math (I'm making up pattern myself) and cast on for one.

3) Take pictures of my Manly Husband wearing his Manly Jacket.

4) Take kid to see Incredibles (Les Indestructibles). (Got fingers crossed that the non-dubbed version is still playing. If not, wait for DVD.)

5) Start seaming my Fluffy Jacket, ALREADY.

6) Send about a gazillion packages. (I go so much the people at the post office know me on a first name basis.)

7) Maybe work on the sleeves of my son's Boyish Jacket [Phildar Pitchoun Hiver 2004]: a project that I started knitting last week, worked on here and there, and before I knew it, had completed the back and both front pieces. Pegase and 4mm needles rock my knitting world. Here's the back of the jacket (click on the image to see an expanded view):




And here is a peek at the completed front pieces (click on the image to see the full view):




This is gonna be one seriously funky jacket. The back is worked in a single variegated color, and the sleeves and front pieces are worked in random blocks of color for a "patchwork" effect. My son is the one who picked out the project, and literally pooh-poohed the rather conservative cabled zip cardigan I had initially wanted to knit. Clearly, the boy has got some snazzy taste.

[FACT: The Boyish Jacket is worked in the same yarn - Pegase - and in the same colors (albeit in a different striped pattern) as my husband's Manly Jacket. My son picked out this jacket BEFORE my husband had picked out the Manly Jacket, and neither of them knew of the other's choice until I came home with the enormous mountain of Pegase yarn afterwards. It was then that my husband said, "But...we're almost gonna have the same jackets." Haha! That's right. It's gonna be a cutesy pair of matching father/son jackets, skippy. Can you stand it???]

Finished project alert! My first post for 2005 is all about my boy and the funky Boyish Jacket that I completed in time for Christmas. [BONUS: Action shot of the jacket at Aunt Josephine's house with one of the toys the Captain found under the tree on Christmas morning.] Best of all: He loves the jacket, and even though I knit it two sizes larger [!], it actually fits. (I think he may have inherited his father's gorilla arms, and his mother's long torso. And from the looks of things, he's got a penchant for dancing while wearing Mommy's knits. Sure wish I could take credit for the dancing, but that goes to Grandma and Grandpa* Rabbit.)

Project details: Design 15 from Phildar's Pitchoun Hiver 04/05 in size 6 years, using Phildar Pegase and 3.5mm and 4mm needles. I used the tubular cast-on for the ribbing, worked a garter stitch selvedge for the edges of the front pieces (where the zipper goes), worked the neckband at double the length so I could fold it inside, and omitted the embroidery. All in all, the jacket was a fast and easy knit. The pieces were completed quickly, but time was invested in finishing, working the neckband, and sewing in the zipper:




Aaaah, sewing in the zipper and sewing down the neckband. The mere writing of that phrase makes my finger ache. I sewed on the zipper, and then folded the neckband inside (which I had worked double the length, as I did for my husband's Manly Jacket), sewed that down on the inside using sewing thread, and then decided to further torture myself by hand-sewing black ribbon to the wrong side of the zipper to hide the stitches. By the time I had finished that I was ready to kick my little sewing kit over a cliff with a flying pirouette, because I had had it up to HERE with hand-sewing itty-bitty stitches using thread and needle. But you know what? After my fingers rested up and I saw how my son was opening and closing the zipper like mad and taking the jacket off so that the wrong side showed while we were at Aunt Josephine's house, I was grateful that I had taken the time to sew that ribbon so carefully. While I don't mind sewing in the zipper itself, next time I may use a sewing machine for the ribbon. And you know that after all this blab, I documented the whole sewing-in-zipper-thing in a slideshow for you, right?

BONUS: As promised, here is a 2Cute4U photo of father and son wearing their matching knit jackets. P.S. Captain Destructo says that his Daddy is his "best friend", because their jackets match. [Awwwww!] Can you stand it?

*Bit o' trivia: My father once won a trophy for best dancer of the Peppermint Twist.