Eye of the beholder

Just a simple U.S. Postal Service Priority Mail box ready to mail?


Absolutely not - this box contains a weight off my mind and a monkey off my back!

My January resolution was to finish knitting a vest for my mother, what I called the "bleepity-bleep" ribbon vest. Way back in August of 2010 during a visit with Mom, she took me to her local yarn store and showed me a vest that she wanted me to knit for her. It was made out of Cascade Egeo, a ribbon yarn, and although I had never worked with a ribbon yarn, I said yes. I was such a fool.

Knitting with ribbon yarn is very different than knitting with other yarns, I soon learned. I won't go into all the details, both because the details are boring to non-knitters and because I still twitch a bit when thinking about the yarn, but trust me when I say it is a PITA. I started the thing a half dozen times, only to drop stitches and have to frog back. I put it in timeout for months on end. I think I even threw it across the room a few times. Finally, I hitched up my knitting needles and just got down to business.

When Mom visited here over the holidays, I showed her the almost completed project and she seemed pleased with it, which made me all the more determined to get it done (not to mention that I could really use the bag it was in for another big project). So I promised my mother that she would have the completed vest by the end of January and I resolved to get it done.

And I did! Here is the finished project:


I won't lie; I don't think it looks nice at all and I see every mistake I made. But if my mother likes it, then what I think is totally irrelevant. And if she does not like it, I will probably never know; we moms tend to think that everything our offspring makes is wonderful.

It is such a relief to have that project completed, boxed and ready for the mail. Now back to knitting projects that I actually enjoy!

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Speaking of knitting, I somehow missed my fourth knitting anniversary on January 20 - I guess I was too busy swearing at the ribbon vest - so happy belated anniversary to me!