Lebowski Revealed

The Dude Approves

And … it’s revealed! He liked that it was zippered and he seemed impressed … but he didn’t recognize it right away! He liked it, thought it was cool, but didn’t get it immediately. So, what this means is that he REALLY doesn’t read my blog!

I also got to surprise him at dinner. I got there before him, since he was bringing the kid from martial arts class and I arranged for the birthday celebration at Tokyo, our favorite local sushi place. Basically, they bring you a scoop of ice cream with whipped topping and chocolate syrup, stick a candle in it and bring out this big drum. This guy bangs like crazy on it and they sing Happy Birthday in Japanese. Hilarious.

So all in all, besides me having a massive allergy attack after my run, a good birthday for him.

Lebowski DONE

DONE DONE DONE

IT’S DONE. When is the birthday, you might ask? THURSDAY. Talk about cutting it to the quick.

Actually, the knitting’s been done for a while now. I blocked it in the back room that we never use, along with a sweater I finished … at the end of April. Just in time for hot weather, yah. So, I left it for a long time, no incentive to finish it, since I’m not going to be wearing it in 90+ degree weather. Finally, I blocked both of them and told him “I’m blocking that sweater that I made, finally, and the door is shut to keep the cats away from it.” Partially true. Any time that door is open, no matter where those cats might be, they are in the room within 30 seconds.

Still, do I think I’ve kept this a surprise from him? No. I suspect that he actually knows. You know what? This is OK. He doesn’t always handle surprises very well. So part of me hopes he’s figured it out. Then he can pretend to be surprised and everyone is happy.

What held me up from finishing this dang thing, besides that he didn’t travel or I was traveling or whatever the excuse, was sewing in the zipper. The amazing, fabulous zipper I was so ecstatic to find. I was totally freaked out about it. I just knew it’d be impossible. And … it was not bad at all. Go figure. I hand-stitched it in. I just knew there was no point in putting a foot on a bulky, loose knit.

The back of the uniform, the REAL surprise

I did turn on the machine and put the Kuk Sool patches on his uniform top. I had to do this for my daughter last year, before he started taking Kuk Sool as well. I’d been pestering him to get the patches, but he’s not done it because he thought it’d be too much work for me. So, this week, since he was gone on Tuesday, I bought the patches and sewed them on. I figured I’d wrap it up and there it would be … but the kid suggested I fold it up … and stick it back in the drawer. A REAL surprise for him. So, that’s what I’ve done.

WHEE DONE! I don’t think I will ever make another one. It was a massive project. But then again, I guess any men’s sweater is going to be a massive project!

But that’s just my opinion, man. The dude abides. Hopefully the dude getting the sweater adores.

Zipping up Lebowski

So excited today, because I got THREE packages. First, my No Meat Athlete shirt, which I plan to wear when I run the Spinx Run Fest. (BTW, looking for a fall half or full marathon? This one is a lot of fun, finishes IN the ballpark.) Second, my Superfeet inserts, which I had to buy another pair because I got tired of switching them from my running shoes to my Jazzercise shoes. The new aerobic shoes from Nike just didn’t have enough arch support for my old feet.

The ZIPPER!

But you are not reading this post because of RUNNING, are you? The thing I was really excited to get was a custom-made zipper! And it’s a beaut. The right color, the right length … even the right zipper closure on that sucker.

The original instructions noted that the zipper should have a ring closure on it to match the one in the movie and she found one in a thrift shop that she cut off the original garment. Well, I’m not feeling that lucky plus I don’t spend a ton of time in thrift stores (takes away from knitting, duh), so I googled “custom zipper and found Zipper Source.

I was game and the site was easy to use, so I gave it a try. I got the simplest email ever letting me know that my order was received. It was … quaint.

The "got it" email

Nine days later, I got this very terse email.

The "it's coming" email

Yeah! I did have expect it to arrive in a plain envelope, but it came in a bona-fide Tyvek envelope with a logo printed on it. And it was perfect. And, even American-made, if you like that sort of thing.

Now to sew the thing on. That might be the hardest part of the whole dang sweater. (And I still have to finish the collar, details, details.)

Mousy Lebowski

Finally, I got around to ordering the yarn I needed to finish up that second sleeve. Since the husband was out of town and I had a day off from running, I worked on it during the kid’s Kuk Sool lesson and later that night. Boy did that feel good to get that done!

Can you tell the difference in size?

I really wondered if I should just use the second brown (mushroom) to finish up the pattern, but really, I felt like I really didn’t have enough of that either, so I went ahead and bit the bullet and ordered just one more skein of mouse yarn. Really, the yardage has been way off. I’ll have at least two skeins of the pebble left and nothing of the other colors, had I managed to make it through the dark brown without running out. So, I’ll be looking for other ideas as to what to do with this yarn. I guess if we had a dog, I could make a matching Lebowski sweater. Alas, we only have two cats and neither one appreciates a fine knit sweater.

As you can see, I really didn’t need a lot more yarn. I’ve put the ball of mouse next to a full ball of the white I originally bought and you’ll see that you can’t tell a difference in size. A skein of this stuff has 205 yards. I estimate I used maybe 5, so I have 200 yards left.

Using Mouse to finish up the Mushroom section

My decision to NOT use the mushroom was justified and in fact, I ran out of that with about 10 stitches left to go. So, now that I had 200 yards left of the mouse, I did finish up that last row with it instead of using less than a yard of yet another skein of this yarn. I mean, it’s OK yarn and all, but I’m not that much in love with it!

I spent the morning sewing it up together. Sewing up knitted pieces is not my favorite (if I liked it, I’d just sew), but this went along fairly quickly and I finished up just as my husband got back from exercising. And bonus! I thought I had only started one facing, but when I pulled it out to assemble it, I found not only was that the second facing sitting around on an extra pair of needles, but the first facing was already sewn on. YES!

SO, what is left? Not much! I need to finish up the second facing, sew that on, order the custom zipper so I  can get one with the ring on it and then make the collar. That will be interesting. I really feel the one in the pattern is too small to match the originalin the movie. I mean, that’s just my opinion, man. So I might be experimenting. It’s OK, birthday isn’t for two months. And Lord knows, I’ve got plenty of the pebble to do whatever.

The sweater to date

So far, I give this pattern a B+. Nicely done, even with the differences in yardage. My fault, really. It’s a totally different yarn than what was spec’ed.

Hopefully when it’s done, it’ll tie the outfit together.

Not Enough Lebowski

So close and yet no cigar

Well, friends, it happened. I ran out of yarn, specifically the dark yarn for the pattern. Here’s the heartbreaking thing: I ran out of yarn with 6 rows to go. So, I need about 6 yards of yarn. A skein typically had between 150-200 yards in it. So, to put that in football terms, I made it to the 3 yard line with a full set of downs and failed to cross the finish line.

This leaves you thinking about all the yarn you could have possibly still had. If only you hadn’t been so generous with the carry acrosses. If only you had trimmed it a little closer when you tied off. If only … well then I might have had enough yarn.

Or not. It’s about $7 a skein, so I’ll see what else I can buy and work up an order to get enough to qualify for free shipping. It’s not like I can work on it anyway, being on vacation with the husband all week.

Still, for the goal-oriented girl, it’s painful.

Anyone got 6-7 yards of Weekend Mouse Yarn?

Lebowski Haiku

I’m a goal oriented girl. I’m not one of those knitters that tends to not finish a project. (Well OK there is that one sweater that I should just pull out and cash in.) But, I’m not usually one of those knitters that lets projects languish, a basket full of UFOs (UnFinished Objects.) So … even though the husband’s travel schedule has been much lighter and we’re happy to have him around … it’s been hell on my goal of finishing this sweater. And I’m at that point with the sweater that I really just want to finish it up. Kind of like a run, where you’re more than halfway there? And you know you’re going to finish it, no matter what? That’s where I’m at with this sweater.

It's going to be very very close

Add to the goal of wanting to know if this little ball of gray yarn is going to hold up for 34 more rows and I’m hiding out in the office, knitting while the husband watches movies like Hero. Or goes to bed, perhaps. This is what happened last night when I posted, “Husband in bed, Christine knits the Lebowski sweater …” to which a friend said it wasn’t quite a haiku. I wrote this instead: “Husband is asleep. Christine knits Lebowski sleeve. Will yarn last?” to which I was told “better, keep working on it.”

Sleeve #2, row 68. Another 40 and I start shaping.

Again, I was able to jump into it, with our vastly different viewing habits, and I watched Paper Heart. (Eh, maybe I’m too old and jaded for it. I like awkward humor, but this was just too much for me. I did like the couples telling their stories of love, but otherwise … it just wasn’t quite my cup of tea.) Tonight’s haiku was “I knit again. Husband watches Jet Li flick. Stitch stitch stitch.” Not sure if that’s better or not, but it certainly sums up the evening. I’m worn from stitching in 1×1 rib, but I want, no need, to know if I have enough of this dark gray yarn to finish this up.

Fortunately, I’ll know in another 38 rows. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Lebowski sleeved

Will it fit my husband? Only the shadow knows.

Hey! I finished a sleeve! Turns out the husband has traveled very very little this summer, so I’ve been working on it in drips and dribbles. I’m both excited and tentative about this.

The excitement comes from moving forward on the project and seeing it start to, literally, come together. It’s really starting to look like the one in the movie.

The tentativeness comes from several things. I worry about it fitting. It seems like it won’t be big enough, but I’m trying it on a coworker that comes close to my husband’s size. Also, I’m not wild about repeating the process of making another sleeve. And thirdly, I’m worried about my yarn! I don’t think I’ll have a lot of the darkest color left.

Will it last for one more sleeve? Please?

And so, for now, it’ll have to sit in the drawer. Travel season is coming up and I’m in great shape at this point. On to other projects, like this one! (It’s similar to one someone is selling on Etsy, so I’m only giving them as gifts.)

Baby boob hat

Big Lebowski, knitted to Big Lebowski

Big Lebowski sweater, front almost finished

So my husband today volunteered to help the wonderful folks at Upstate Holistic Health take down a wall as they are expanding their space. We met them through my daughter’s elementary after school program. They offered martial arts lessons for $6 a lesson twice a week at the school. This sounded insanely cheap to me, plus I didn’t have to get her to class, so I couldn’t sign up fast enough.

Turned out to be the best thing I could have done for her. And, it’s been so good that my husband signed up too. Toran and Sarah, who are married and run the business, are young but extremely good at what they do, and so my husband was happy to help them out.

And I was happy for him to do so too, because it meant I had plenty of time to work on the sweater without him sneaking around. Since the main pattern was coming up next, this was all good.

Once I got started, I realized that the last time I saw the movie, it was on Netflix instant play, so I thought I’d watch it again and lo, there it still was! What a hilarious movie, folks. I’m assuming most who have read this blog have seen the movie, but it’s just completely absurd. Even the story is kind of pointless. It’s all about these outlandishly drawn characters, really, and seeing Jeff Bridges play the most stoned out guy you’ve ever see is a great way to kill an afternoon.

Here’s one of my favorite exchanges:

Lebowski (the millionaire): “Isn’t it being prepared to do the right thing, no matter the cost? Isn’t that what makes a man?”

Dude Lebowski: “Sure and a pair of testicles.” 

And this, autotweeted from @TheBotLebowski because I put “lebowski” in a tweet: “You see a wedding ring? Does this place look like I’m fucking married? The toilet seat’s up!”

That said, I also realized the collar on the pattern is probably too short. So, I’ll have to think about lengthening it.

Otherwise, I’m zinging through it. On to sleeves before I know it.

Repaying the Gift

Like many people, I rediscovered lots of old friends I had lost touch with over the years. One of those folks was Beth Lash, who went to Clemson University and eventually moved back to Annapolis. Beth was in the Clemson Players, the student drama group on campus. Clemson now has a pretty serious drama program, with a real degree and everything, but when we went there, it was made up of kids that just really liked theater. It didn’t mean we weren’t good; we had a group (before us) that went to the Kennedy Center. We even did some shows with a guy named Mike Tyler, who you might remember as Gunther from Friends. Still, we were definitely not the type of group on campus that got noticed. I think we preferred it that way, to be honest. We seemed proud to be among the outcasts.

We were a proud snarky bunch and some of those memories are my very favorite. The condiment collection, killed when someone stepped on it and we had a funeral. The insane parties at Mark Charney’s, one that I left at 3 am, only to be told the next morning “Scary Greg showed up with a bag of drugs at 5 am.” (Honestly, we were mostly good kids, I promise.) The pitchers of beer drunk as a group through straws, which would lead to dancing on bars at Nick’s while Madonna played. (Wait that might be two separate incidents.) I remember going to a Jesus, Mary and Joseph party where you were to dress like your favorite Biblical character and finding a book with a new book cover: “The Bible. Drugs! Sex! Violence! On the bestseller list for 2,000 years!” Mostly, we were just a bunch of very irreverent kids. I had found my kind, even if I never appeared on stage. While I love Clemson, I’m not your typical Clemson kid, so I can’t explain how grateful I am to have found this group.

Beth was one of these irreverent ones and the year my parents were on sabbatical in Greenbelt, Maryland, we drove North together in my 1973 VW semiautomatic Bug. We didn’t make it to Spartanburg before Beth told me the story of her bug, which got a freak pocket of air under the hood, popping it up and smashing it against her windshield and cracking it. She was forced to drive between a semi and a huge barrier before she finally pulled over. I was a little quiet for a few miles after that. The rest of the trip, we sang as loudly as we could to the radio. A Pat Benetar song came on and Beth says, “oh this is completely unsingable” and then we sang it anyway. A fun trip, even when the carpet got stuck under the gas pedal and Beth was going “Your car is driving itself!”

Beth's socks

Since Beth was one of my very favorite people at Clemson, I was happy to reconnect and also quite happy to repay her for a gift she gave me. One Christmas, quite unexpectedly, she gave me a pair of slippers. Or socks, I’m not sure what to call them. They were these knee-high socks with a faux-leather bottom on them and they were quite patterned. They were cool in an ugly, funky kind of a way and I had those things for YEARS, thinking of Beth when I wore them. So, when I was thinking about what I’d want to give Beth in the FB craft challenge, I knew what it had to be. So Beth, I give you a pair of socks! These are from Purlsoho and they are made out of Koigu Mori. These are fun socks to make, folks.

My socks

So fun to make, I made two pairs! I think of mine as the Donnie Osmond pair, which I told my daughter when she asked who that was, I said he was the Justin Bieber of his day. So Beth, you can wear yours and think of me and I have a pair that I will now think of you, again.

The Flying Lebowski

The back of the sweater makes an appearance on the Queen Mary.

This week, I flew to Long Beach and back, via Midway, which gave me HOURS to work on the sweater. And work I did. I finished the back and am nearly through the pattern section of the left front! With the #10 needles and the 1 x 1 rib, the rows go slowly but the length goes fast.

I managed to finish the back by the time we landed in Long Beach, which took the majority of the day. A 2-hour flight to Midway and  4:30 flight to LAX and I got a great deal of knitting in. The front, well, I’m up to the armpits.

The pattern is zinging along better than I thought. Still, I’m glad it’s only a section of the sweater. Otherwise, it’d get old in a big fat hurry.

I was shocked, gobsmacked, amazed, stunned to learn that my fellow executive committee members had only seen the movie maybe once, if at all, and did not remember the sweater. This makes me the coolest person on the EC, if you ask me.

Might be a while before I get to it again, though. No more trips coming up.