Catching up on some old stuff

I've got a little free time on my hands this morning (OK, not really free time, just no meetings), and I thought I'd give a little update on some goings on, finished projects and the like.

1. Knitting GROUP

Last night we had a little surprise party for Alyssa. You see she's our bud and she's moving which makes us sad but it also gave us an opportunity to do some really creative planning around her departure. It was totally cool, totally covert, somewhat chaotic what with 300 emails flying back and forth and TOTALLY FUN! She had no idea! Check her blog for the pics since I forgot to bring my camera.

2. I've got a few FO's that I need to share. For example: I finally finished, are you ready?

THE LOTUS BLOSSOM TANK!! Yes, I know, you thought it would never be done. I made the largest size and I can say with absolute confidence that IK did not test knit the pattern and try it on a real human of said size. The shoulders? Epaulettes. Totally. They're folded under in this pic.

Oh yeah, and did I mention that it's too big? I know it doesn't look like it here, but I'm less lumpy than when these pics were taken and it's now about 4 inches too big around the middle, floppy in the bust and too big in the back. Add that to the rolled under epaulette shoulders and I'd say this top is pretty much a bust... It was almost an almost... but it's just not very flattering. So, into the frog pond when I can bear it. There's no reason not to save the beautiful Cotton Classic for something else. Maybe a short sleeve cardigan with raglan shaping? Who knows.

3. I'm still working on the Dad Socks. I finally got him to try them on after chasing him around for about a month. I just need to rip back to the gussett of the first sock (which is the second sock I've knit) and switch to smaller needles or take another inch out of the foot. It fits around his ankle perfectly, it's the foot part that just "fits" like it has 0 negative ease and I'm pretty certain that if I switch to smaller needles, that will give me the negative ease I'm looking for.
In case I haven't mentioned this before, I'm using a pattern from Favorite Socks, Elegant Ribbed Stockings after I saw Adrienne making them in a dark color (without the ribbon) for her hubby and they were fabulous! As soon as I've got pics, I promise to share.