Monday, March 13, 2006

The Wearing of the Green, or, Durrow is Done!!!

This past weekend found the husband and moi on the road again, headed back to New Orleans for the first "normal" family gathering since Katrina - the yearly pilgrimage to the St. Patrick's Day parade in Metairie. The weekend was packed with experiences.

First, I finished the last sleeve of Durrow somewhere in central Alabama, at which point I realized that I has no idea whatsoever how to put all the pieces together. (experience #1 - panic!) I forged on ahead in sheer stubborn refusal to allow this irritating little fact to get in my way, and by the time we hit N.O. I was completely finished! Possibly wrong, but finished! (My husband really loves me. He modelled this in Metairie in 80 degree heat and OMG% humidity for the photo.)

What a fun and satisfying experience it was to make this sweater. Many thanks to Jodi Green for this design. The sleeves came out a bit long, but not too bad, and the Husband loves it! So do I.

Durrow by Jodi Green for Magknits
Yarn: Donegal Tweed by Takhi/Stacy Charles
Color and lot: Lost! I don't know how, but I lost every one of those tags! I used the better part of 7 skeins.
Needles: Addi Turbo circs US6

So we stayed in the FEMA trailer with my parents. It was really nice! We had a great time, absolutely everything turns into a bed (not that I would really want to put more than 4 people max in one of those things). It was very heartening to me that the trailer was as nice as it was. Here is a taste of the FEMA trailer experience...

If you look carefully, you will see evidence of lace knitting.

On Sunday, we went to my sister's house for the parade party. Now that my folks are in their own space and my sister is back home from her exile in Houston, there is much to celebrate. Now for the St. Pat's experience.

We ate some bugs...


Kissed some Buzzards...

Marvelled at how anything can become Irish with a little paint and a new sign.... Here's the very Irish "Geisha O'Grady" (I'm not joking, read the sign)

Drank lots of beer, caught lots of beads, 3 cabbages, a handful of potatoes, some onions, carrots and even a lemon, and generally had a great time!

Happy St. Patrick's day from yours truly! If it bothers you that it isn't actually the 17th yet, you haven't drunk enough beer.

Also in late breaking news: Today in a stunning reversal, the heavily modified Coronet hat I was attempting finally convinced me it was way beyond my current knitting abilities and presented itself for frogging. What I was attempting to do was an intarsia design on the crown of the hat. What I failed to realize was that not only was intarsia tough enough to try to wrap the old brain around, but that I was also attempting it without nearly enough forethought on a hat which is knit in the round, and I am not even sure that can be done much less how to do it. No biggie, it just means I have achieved my finish or frog goal a few days shy of my deadline (for those of you who are saying "hang on a minute...", the Clapotis is still in the "Bag of Denial" and the lace scarf was started illegally during my self-imposed 'no new project' period, and therefore doesn't count. Glad we got that straight.), and I now have a zillion useless cut lengths of several colors of DB Merino Aran on intarsia bobbins with which to amuse myself. I am thinking of attaching them to a coat hanger and making a mobile out of them. I frogged back to the cable band which is separate, so I'll save that to be a cabled sweatband against the day I find myself in a flashdance kind of mood. I'm so freaking crafty, eh?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The Durrow looks wonderful. Can't wait to see it in person.

Y'all have lots of fun!

Meg said...

Congrats on finishing Durrow - it looks fantastic! And just in time for St Pat's, too bad it was too hot to wear it in the parade!

Anonymous said...

Durrow is gorgeous! Wow you have him trained rather well modelling in 80 degree temps! Have fun!

Anonymous said...

Have you considered nalbinding with your intarsia frogs?