back to reality: the Gotti bear

What with all the driving and visiting up & down the East Coast you'd think I'd have whipped out most of that Ribby Cardi . Au contraire. I did manage to step out of the box a little. Attended a party several notches up the swank scale than we're used to, spent an afternoon shooting pool, had a work related meeting with people who I really really wanted to meet with in Baltimore, toured the Liberty Bell in Philly, wandered Fells Point in Baltimore and ate with gusto at our friends' new pizza place in Princeton NJ, Ianos Rosticerria. (if you are in the area, check it out and ask for Iano).

So..about that Ribby Cardi. The back is complete. I won't bore you with a photo, it looks like your basic back. But look at what Stephanie Woodland Sprite did to hers- love those stripes & collar tip.

Here's what happened to my kntting time: the jolting realization that I'd invited a dozen friends over this Sunday for a knitting happy hour to benefit The Mother Bear Project. And guess what? Some of them can't knit, some are beginners, and I'd never even tried out the pattern. oops. Out came the perkiest polyester acrylic known to humankind.
As I sewed him up, I was sitting there talking to myself, wondering exactly where the line is when cheerful becomes gaudy. As I feel pretty strongly I've crossed over. My niece walked in. After I'd repeated it a few times, she shook her head and said, "I like him, and he doesn't look like a Mafia guy to me". yeah, he's a made bear.