Whenever I'm afraid I'll run out of yarn, I add a stripe across the chest, saves yarn, makes the sweater look more interesting, and makes the, ahem, front porch, look bigger. Just a thought. I love the way the tank is looking and I would love to see it finished. Maybe it will be a Mother's Day miracle!

Do you have a swift that you could knit from (assuming the yarn came in a hank)? I think I've heard that this helps but don't hold me to it. I completely avoid knitting with ribbon or tape since doing a tank in Dolcino. I love the way it looks but hate the aggravation. But your tank look fabulous and, like childbirth, you will forget all about the pain and love it when it's done!

Lamb, what do you think we're out here for? List the yarn and the dye lot and let us try. What could it hurt? My impression is that there are one or two of us reading out here...

I love the rules - too amusing. I remember a breakfast in bed for my mom. I had my Betty Crocker Junior Cookbook and was trying to make sunny side up eggs. I think I went through the whole dozen to get two - they were greasy, burnt around the edges, the bacon was overdone, but my mom smiled anyway...then my dad cooked her something edible! I've got three of my own now - and I'm actually hoping for pancakes in bed!

Now that my boys are in the 20's - grown and gone, one of my MOST treasured memories is the Mothers Day morning I peeked through closed eyelashes as they made a racket of SHH SHH Giggle Giggle and brought me some awful breakfast on a tray. That picture is burned in to my memory and I wouldn't trade it for anything. I ate it in bed - swallowed that gunk somehow - waited to pee. Then cleaned the slopped orange juice trail that went from the kitchen to my bedroom when they weren't looking. I don't even remember the mess that MUST have been in my kitchen.

Point worth making - If your daughter had to ask YOU for a loan for your Mom's Day present, the one who needs more training is HER DAD !!!! Even if he (perhaps rightly) refused on the grounds that the gift has to come from HER to be meaningful, he could at least give her a way to EARN the money from him by washing the car, picking the weeds or SOMEthing.

Regarding the twist in your yarn. As a thread crocheter, I've often run in to the twist problem. Try stabbing your skein through it's center axis with a long, fat knitting needle. Then rest it accross the top of an open shoe box (you can cut grooves in the top to rest the ends of the needle if you want) - and knit from the outside. This allows the ball to turn, minimizing the twist in the yarn as it goes from the ball to your knitting hand. The addition of a stripe accross the um "front shelf" is an excellent one. The stripe can be a similar yarn in a complementary color, or a different texture in a similar color. That tank is waaaay to pretty to give up on!

My ribbon yarn twists unmercifully. But the twisty-ness doesn't seem to affect the finished fabric. So, I just let it twist.

Lazy girls rule!

Ribbon yarn and I are on break. Permanently. No visiting rights, no alimony, nothing. In my world, ribbon doesn't exist - especially not rayon ribbon.

Eeyore's face in that picture could be either a cow's, gentle and placid, or a wolf's, jaws opened wide. I have mornings that feel like I could go either way myself.

Last year, when my DH asked me what I wanted for Mother's Day, I responded, "Not to have to clean up after you guys." I forgot to tell them, though, not to dump the pitcher of maple syrup in my lap. And all over the bed. So this year I'm just going to say, c'mon guys, NO BREAKFAST IN BED cliche anymore! There are no tiny charming faces to pretend for, my youngest shaves his now, fer cryin' out loud!

I will be making my mom Mother's Day brunch. It will be served on the good china at the table, AFTER everyone has gone to the bathroom and been offered at least one cup of coffee.

We will be having crepe-like things made by me and filled with cottage cheese or plain yogurt, whichever my mother buys (either one works well so I told her to choose so that she'd feel like she was contributing). They will be topped with gently-warmed made-by-me fresh strawberry topping. (I've made these before and I'm good at 'em. They're almost too yummy for breakfast.)

The kitchen will not be trashed when I am done because I am taking my own mise-en-place along with me when I visit. She asked for paper-thin, perfectly-cooked crepes, and I can't do that without my very favoritest cast-iron skillet by my side. You can be damn sure I am not leaving something like that dirty in the sink.

After this brunchish thing, we are going to get dressed up in snazzy duds and make for the last opera (Sunday matinee) of the season, which is Carmen. I bought opera season tickets for me and my mom as a Christmas present for her.

To moms in the studio audience: You, too, can have this sort of Mother's Day treatment from your child! Order today! Delivery times vary, but thirty-four years is an average. (Note: The "grandchild" add-on is not compatible with the features available in this child configuration.)

Nutella on toast, rootbeer and Lucky Charms without milk is my daughters' version of breakfast in bed. Fortunately this mom has a bladder of steel.

Love the idea of the shoebox ribbon vending thingie described above. I'll have to try that.

Steph, gonzesse, no stripes across the front of the tank.
That screams of "I didn't have enough yarn", and Harlots don't resort to cheap-whore tricks.

I remember breakfast in bed, hoping I wouldn't sneeze and have a horrible accident. 20 years ago, vivid memory.
Then, my younger more observant son noticed me cleaning up after breakfast. Every year after that my present was to get sent away (don't we need milk?) and the house would be spotless when I came home. What a treat that was!
Barb

You are just tooooo funny. Now I'm going to stay up all night reading your blog...what about all those books I just spent money on???

cheers..Lee Anne (from the bookstore)
PS the tank looks great so far....

I have banned ribbon yarn from my needles for a while after my recent debacles with Colinette Mercury. What I devised as a solution, ultimately, was keeping the ball of "yarn" in a Zip-loc bag, and using the zip as a holder to keep too much of the yarn from getting out, and also to keep it in place when holding the bag out to unwind -- rather than holding out the knitting to do that...

I bought my mom a DVD and forgot to get it in the mail in time. How lame am I?

Happy Mother's Day, Harlot. Now for a shocker.....I'm actually baking something today. Will I and my house survive? Stay tuned...

I see a trip to Walmart this week!!!!
I need more yarn too.

Love
Experiement 47A

Similar to Jon's ziploc trick, I too use small bags to hold yarn a lot of the time. Except, instead of threading the yarn through the zip, I cut a tiny hole in one of the corners of the bag and thread the yarn through that. It also helps with my bad habit of letting my yarn bounce around on the floor while i'm working - the bag keeps it nice and clean.