To illustrate: my relationship with the Future Perfect tense.

"At some point, I will have...
a) finished that sweater;
b) launched that pattern line;
c) come out from under that crushing deadline."

There's been all this talk about what I will be about to be knitting
(say, for the Olympics in a few months), but little to no blog content about what I am actually-right-now-this-very-moment knitting.
(That's the present progressive tense, for those of you keeping track.)

So, I present for your consideration
What I AM knitting:

One Koolhaas Hat.
(You saw it yesterday, but I'll reiterate.)
Yarn: Berocco Inca Gold, in a lovely shade of British Racing Green.
Plus, I cast on with some leftover yarn in a great, deep turquoise – I think it's Rowan Wool Cotton.
Needles: US 6 (4.0mm) Inox metal, 16"

Having ripped back three (count 'em, three!) times, I think I'm now underway on this sucker, and have just one more repeat or more to do before the crown shaping.

(Good thing, too, 'cuz it's a holiday present for someone.) (Who shall remain nameless.)

And there are some more UFOs that are just for fun (gifts, sweaters for me, etc), but the bulk of my time and knitting hours have been spent on these babies:

Meet The Rockettes, here posed as a barbershop quartet.

I'm deep in the throes of knitting samples for my very-first-ever trade show booth, to go to TNNA (The National Needle Arts) in Long Beach in January. I'm doing an Unpattern booth there for the very first time, and the Rockettes are the stars of the show. There are 8 gals in all, which is making my studio feel like a doctor's waiting room.

So far, I have 4 samples complete, as you can see on The Gals above.
We have (from left to right): a Bottom-Up Sleeveless Pullover with a ruffled neckline (in Sublime Soya Cotton, a yarn I thought I'd fight and ended up loving); a Top-Down Raglan Pullover (in good ol' Cascade 220); a Top-Down Set-In Sleeve Pullover (in Rowan Cocoon, in tweed stitch. Cozy personified); and the Top-Down Sleeveless Pullover you met earlier (in Broken Rib, out of Brown Sheep Cotton Fleece).

All that progress was made by the time I left for Victoria last month; and now I've officially spent AN ENTIRE MONTH on ONE sweater. It's going to be lovely, I know it is, but they call the past tense that goes on and on and on the 'Imperfect' for a reason.

I don't know why I've been knitting on this sweater so long. And yes, I realize that 'long' is a relative term... For many of us, we're lucky to get a sweater done in three or four months. But folks, didja look at the calendar lately? As Boyhood says, "Dates in this calendar may be closer than they appear"; and January's breathing down our necks already.

I have FOUR sweaters to go, which means a sweater a week (I can handle that) in December. So, Little Mister Classic Elite Soft Linen Bottom-Up Drop-Shoulder Turtleneck Pullover?
Yer days are numbered.

BrooklynTweed, a.k.a. Jared Flood, a.k.a. The Kid, rolled his show into town, and the knitters of Bainbridge were chuffed!

[That's the Man Himself, supervising progress on our Koolhaas Hats with his kind and competent air.]

This was the first visiting-teacher workshop I've taken from Churchmouse (ironic, considering how involved I am in scheduling all of them!), and I must say I was wickedly impressed with how classy an operation it is. (No surprises there, considering that Churchmouse makes everything they touch come out classy, but still.)

Note the great spread of home-baked goodies on the groaning sideboard at left. And the venue is just gorgeous, with a view down onto the masts of Eagle Harbor and out to the ferry.

We were having so much fun, in fact, that the locals got a little curious as to what we were up to:

Dude: if you want help cabling without a cable needle, you're gonna have to sign up for the class in advance, okay?

Okay.

Rocky up there might have made better progress on his Koolhaas Hat than I did by the end of the weekend, though … apparently I was having too much fun to keep track of how my cables were twisting, and I had to keep ripping back to fix a zig where I should have zagged.

What fun, though, to sit back and be taught by a talented designer and teacher (and all around nice guy).

Talent, good looks, and recognition from our industry... I wish I could hate the pipsqueak, but I can't.
Thanks, Jared, for a great weekend, and we look forward to seeing you out here again sometime soon!

Thanks for all the votes in the comments of my last entry, peeps!

And the surprise winner, by a good margin, was

TWEEDIE!

But here's the thing…
I kept thinking.

[Yeah, I know - Boy keeps warning me about that.]

I'm not getting around to my goal of finishing all my UFOs before the end of the year [that's UnFinished Objects, to you non-knitters], and a girl does like a sense of completion.

So now I'm thinking about working through my UFOs during the Olympics:
Gold medal if I finish all of them;
Silver if I finish all but one;
Bronze if I finish all but a few.

Time to go rustle them out from the boxes and knitting bags where they live to see what I'm up against.
But if it works, and I medal in this event, I'd get to knit Tweedie as a prize!

Win/Win?

(By storm, not with storm, fortunately. We were quite lucky with the weather, considering it was late October!)

After landing off the Victoria Clipper and fortifying ourselves with an Irish Pub lunch, we scattered to the four winds for some shopping expeditions before reconnoitering in the luxurious corner suite of D&E to celebrate E's birthday a few days early.

[No snaps of the chocolate cake, as it was already being devourered by the time I got my camera out and ready. Chocolate waits for no woman! But reports came in that they had gotten E's name right - a point of contention and humor in previous years. Phew!]

The next day's highlight was - what else? Tea at the Empress.
The girls get dolled up for the occasion:

The Empress herself got dolled up for us, too! See the red ivy against the brick? Stunning.
High tea hit the four major food groups, too: Caffeine, Chocolate, Sugar, and Cream.

Watch your fingers and toes! We was hungry!

Some of us had worked up an appetite by getting in our roadwork of a morning... a gaggle of us went out for a 4-mile walk or run first thing. Virtue has its own rewards, in the form of lovely views:

And some man-made wonders, too:

Of course, there was yarn shopping - when would there not be yarn shopping? The Beehive took great care of us, as we swarmed in and swooned over all the Handmaiden and Fleece Artist in one place (yet another way it pays to be Canadian, eh?). E and C and Tropical Girl fell in love with some colorwork mittens, and the staff were kind enough to unpack a box of them that had just come off the truck. Tropical Girl even got some with her favorite shade of teal in it! Can't wait to see how those all come out.

I fell down just a wee bit... No skinned knees in the mohair department this time.

Left: 2 skeins Berocco "Sundae", a bulky, burly-yet-soft concoction at 2 sts/1" that will become something holiday-ish for Boy. (No spoilers!)

Right: 2 skeins Fleece Artist "WoolieSilk 3ply," in lovely browny-greeny shades. Destined for some sort of linen-stitch cowl, plus a beaded beanie from the new Churchmouse Classics pattern!

All that yarn fondling makes a girl kinda pooped. Time for a pick-me-up:

And then, in true akabini form, I found a great breakfast place on our last day.
Complete with knitted tea cozies!

And all too soon, it was time to head back home....
With the added bi† of drama of some weather out to sea. There were rumors that the boat might be cancelled, but our valiant steed forged on despite the wind and rain, and we made it home safe and sound late Friday night.

Thanks to the Clipper for our safe passage!

We are home a little lighter in the wallet, but also a little lighter in our hearts for all the great times and giggles. Anything worth doing is even more worthwhile with good friends – and I'd go to the ends of the earth bo†h for and with these ladies.

Knit on, Sisters!

a) Starts at ungodly hours of the morning, with a view...

... and a new project.

b) Add a passel of great friends:

(Look at how they're sitting there, so well behaved.)
(Yeah, right.)

c) Whisk all of the above off to foreign climes:

(That's the boat we rode in on. Actual view from our hotel room balcony.)

d) Marinate.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Needles is taking Victoria by storm!
Lock up your yarn, books, shoes, and handbags!

[We're here for the rest of the week. Expect more hilarity.]

Who brought the gin?

[This is the fella who walked a half-marathon and then some to track me as I squirrelled my way around greater Chicago. Send him a shout out! I'm a lucky gal.]

Oh, and in one of those surreal, "The Universe Has A Sense of Humor That Rivals David Byrne" sort of moments, first-husband Stephen's baby boy George has a birthday today, too!
Shouts out to Georgie, who got this friendly birthday greeting on his momma's Facebook account today:

Dear Mister Big Man.
Clearly, you are not in receipt of our memo.
Further growing is not authorized, at least until you gain clearance
pending a house visit by the Unofficial Aunt & Uncle Squad.
Future violations will be penalized by withdrawal of car keys.
This is your first warning.

I mean, really. Two years old already? Sheesh.

That city sure knows how to throw a party!

Number of runners: 45,000

Number of spectators: 1,500,000 (!)

Number of runners in the 5:15 pacer bunny group: 20 or so

It was such a different race from last year's Seattle Marathon.
Okay, first off, it was flat flat flat, so I never really 'hit the wall'
like I did at mile 20 (where the hills began!) in Seattle.
I basically tucked in to the back right of the pack behind our pacer bunny
(Pacer Paul, wherever you are, I LOVE YOU) and just hit cruise.

A very nice feeling.

Steady and even the whole way, I finished strong with Ellie from Talahassee, Florida - 3 months pregnant and doing great. We even got a bit ahead of the pacers, to finish in 5:14:25.

So thanks to all of you for putting up with all the running-related posts.
Not that this will be the last of them. After a week or so of resting up,
I'm sure I'll be plotting where to run my next marathon!