The only marathon...

The only type of marathon you'll ever see me run is that of the knitting marathon. I hate running for some reason so don't expect sneakers and a coordinated track suit.

You've heard me mention Andrew, the soon-to-be-kidling, for quite awhile now here at Chez Knitballs. He is the greatly anticipated first child of my friend in Iowa. Well, we are officially on code red here as he is due by c-section on Thursday, January 10th.

That being said, I have commenced the knitting marathon on the christening gown that was requested of me. Quite the honor it is, I gladly accepted the challenge. Those of you on Ravelry have seen a few progress shots, but this is the first I am blogging about it with pictures. I discovered she can't even remember my blog name (dude seriously?) soooo I think we are in the clear with mama lurking before the actual reveal in person. We're in the home stretch and I think the sleeves will be done today. I think I will have the shoulder seams, buttons on, and sleeves in by tonight.
This pattern is an improvisation of the Hugs and Kisses Christening Gown by Judy Lamb. If you know the pattern at all, you can tell I made major modifications to suit my taste and mood. Namely, I don't do heart motifs in my knitting. So along with the 5K marathon run, you'll never see the heart motifs either, unless I am either highly caffeinated and delirious or drugged with uppers. The only shot you have would be the strung out on espresso option. The uppers just aren't part of my knitting gear. :-)

Here's a little close-up of the cables. Originally, I was working on a lace pattern that we had looked at previously, but the yarn is too drapey. So after the frog fest, we started on cables.

My friend chose Plymouth Royal Bamboo in a antique white color because she is allergic to wool. At this point in the game, although I love my friend dearly, I don't think I want to play in the sandbox with this yarn again. EVER. It's so splitty and slippery. You'll have a dropped stitch ladder down in the mere seconds of one espresso sip. Yep. So as you can imagine, I've played repair clinic more times than I can count the amount of espresso I've had while knitting on it.

I guess my monogamy with this project is paying off because I refuse to touch anything else, although very tempting, before this is done. I wanted it knitted by the birth, unless he comes sooner, and well before the christening which will be March. I would say I'm on track unless she has a...............gasp..............10 lb baby. *fans self*

Back to my latte and knitting. I will post the FO picks shortly.

Happy 2008.