Ribbed... for her pleasure?

Just when you've left the baby at the sitter's and think you've got some privacy...

I guess Quack and Daisy like the feel of this CotLin as much as I do!!!

This is the Brioche Rib Vest (from The Best of Interweave Knits) - a true Bespoke by Brouhaha piece, commissioned by:
JJ... light of my life, apple of my eye, etc.

(Having said that, I made him buy the yarn and some for me besides. He repaid me by picking the colour that I had bought for myself instead of the bland old Oatmeal that I had intended for this vest. I knew I shouldn't have given him any options... and here I thought that Scottish people liked oatmeal!!)

I very much like this pattern, although I have to say it doesn't much look like that in the pattern book (the yarn is of a completely different composition). This is the right side:

... and this is the wrong side.
Perversely, I actually prefer the "wrong" side to the right. I will, however, let JJ pick whichever he prefers before starting on the front sections... nice of me, eh?

Even more perversely, I got a big kick out of posing my little duckies on top of it while JJ was watching "Kidnapped" with Michael Caine for the seventh or eighth time (too many bagpipes for my taste, but each to his own...).

JJ did not actually notice what I was doing with this until I was almost finished. I knew he had noticed, though (or perhaps he was just distracted by my cackling uproariously), when I heard that trademark sigh, followed by:

JJ: What exactly are they doin', then?

KB: Makin' sweet lurve...

JJ (with his usual sagacity) seemed to ignore this response - until 10 minutes later when he saw the last photo above loaded onto the computer...

JJ: Lassie, why are these ducks screwin' on top of my sweater, anyway?

KB: They're not screwing on top of your sweater, they're just cuddling... (scrolled forward to the first photo)...see, here they're not just cuddling, though.

(long pause)

JJ: I don't know what to do with ye. Yer a wee horror. And a bampot. What is this fascination with rrrrubber ducks, anyway?

KB: I don't know, I must have had a deprived childhood or something.

JJ: Nonononono... that's yer excuse for buying all that chewin' gum and blowin' bubbles and breakin' them! That can't be yer excuse as well for this nonsense.

KB: Why not?

Silence. Then:

JJ: Look, Ah'm just trying to watch my video, OK? So behave. Stop muckin' aboot with those duckies. Gi'us peace!!

KB: You said "duckies"!!! hee hee hee

JJ: (deep sigh, then turns up the volume on the TV).

Puir wee JJ. He has a great deal to put up with, living with a wee bampot like me!

Must sign off now. I want to do a swatch for another sweater before I leave for work. It's amazing I ever manage to get to work, actually...

Oh, and in parting: today apparently is the birthday of 1976 - Michalis Kakiouzis. Who is he? A Greek basketball player. I always get a big laugh when I think about Greek basketball teams. Even thought I am Greek-Canadian, the only Greek of my acquaintance that appears anywhere near tall enough to actually play pro basketball is Takis here:
Maybe when he's not blowing his own horn, he's practicing to be the next addition to the Toronto Raptors! (I suspect he'd have to lose the skirt and the pompoms to get anywhere with that ambition, thought).

Hey...

KB: JJ, did you know that they have pro basketball teams in Greece?

JJ: Really?... what do they call that, then... the PeeWee League?

heh heh heh. The JB household is never short on comedy, I tell you!

Flashy Back to School Vest!

Vests rock!

This one, I think, has a bit of pizzazz - thanks in large part to the semi-sparkly yarn! I'm not sure how well the pics point it out, but there are little sparkly bits in the yarn.

Specs:
- pattern: modified from the Back to School Vest, Fitted Knits by Stefanie Japel
- size: 35 1/2" (second size in the pattern)
- yarn = Colinette Lasso, 100% polyamide 2 skeins (100g each) in Forest colourway
- needle size = 4.5mm and 3.75mm
- started: 29 September
- finished: 1 October
- made for: my mother

Thanks to Natalie, who sent me this yarn in a swap!


Notes:
- I didn't think the waffle stitch in the pattern would be too noticeable with the variegated yarn, so I did stockinette stitch instead above the ribbed waistline. I like the result together with the fancy yarn.
- WARNING: if you buy this yarn, buy a yarn winder and/or swift to go with it. It took me quite some time to wind this by hand as it tangles easily and sticks to itself!

Now for some more pics:

Waist Detail


Neckline Detail:


Best thing is that I have enough left for a small tank or T for ME. Because that's who it's all about, isn't it?

Well, maybe not. I'm proving to have an altruistic streak after all (sort of). I offered to make JJ a vest for the big trip to the UK this December. He could have had the fancy tweed vest from No Sheep for You but due to his classic (read: pedestrian) tastes, has chosen this one instead:



(the white one in the bottom left corner. What is it about 80s patterns, anyway, that compelled everyone to put in 4" of ribbing knitted 2 sizes smaller than the rest of the sweater! Is this supposed to be some kind of slimming feature? Sheesh! JJ has been advised that the ribbing and trim will not have this time-dishonoured shrunken look.)

Don't you love the half-eaten Jersey Milk bar in the right corner of the picture? The pattern should come with a warning: "Do not eat chocolate while knitting with white Paton's Astra!"

But I digress, surprisingly enough - I'm usually so pithy! ;-)

After long deliberation over the appropriate material, I decided that Knitpicks CotLin was in order - price is right, and it is the desired fineness and softness for HRH JJ. So, in my typical altruistic spirit I checked out Knitpicks and allowed JJ to pick out his colour. He wanted two colours, so I even offered to knit him a matched set - eventually. But not before I knit something with the lime green I managed to order for myself, of course - together with two books, A Gathering of Lace by Meg Swansen and The Natural Knitter by Barbara Albright. As I told JJ, with the Canadian dollar as high as it is, it's almost like Knitpicks are giving him money! (His response was "Don't push it". Sometimes I do know when to shut up).

Here are the colours:

CotLin

13 skeins Nightfall
13 Skeins Linen
10 skeins Key Lime (for - guess who!)

All in all, a good start to the week.