Mother of the Groom Stuff

I've been procrastinating on one of life's more daunting tasks: finding a nice outfit to wear to my younger son's upcoming wedding. Like most mothers of the groom, I want something that looks fabulous but doesn't cost fabulous. I also don't have a lot of time or money to shop around, and the choices for someone 5'2" tall are a bit limited. The idea of floating around in an organza tent didn't thrill me, so I've been keeping my eye out for something I could make up for the occasion.
My first thought was four colors of Anny Blatt Victoria ribbon - two pinks and two grays. The idea was to match a beaded purse I'd been working on in those colors. Unfortunately, the half-finished purse disappeared on Pentecost morning. I'd been knitting on it before choir started, and apparently I'd left it in the pew when we started rehearsing, and someone cleaned it up. It may still be around somewhere, but nobody can find it. If there's a good thing to come out of the loss of a cherished WIP it's that I'm no longer bound to match it.

So.... I started looking around, and a lovely hank of Cool Stuff in Wisteria caught my eye. I also picked up some Anny Blatt Muguet and Victoria ribbon to stretch it out a bit. Here are the raw materials:

My first thought was to make a diagonally knit top that was in one of the Prism books, but then my eye was drawn to the mitered squares in "violetta" in the Twisted Sisters Double Trouble book. The squares looked gorgeous, but the more I looked at the sweater itself, the less I liked the contour of it. I wanted something with a little lower neckline, both because Central Pennsylvania is hot in August, and because lower necklines are more flattering on ladies of a certain mother-of-the-groom age. So I started playing around, and this is what I came up with as a start:

This is the front. I've knit a similar piece for the back, and I'll connect the two at the sleeves, and with two large squares at each side. My friend Pauli has agreed to make me a skirt to go with it.

On another note, I'm grateful to say that our daughter, who lives in London and takes the underground to work, was one of the many who were not involved in the tragedy that occurred there on July 7. I had fallen asleep with my Walkman on tuned to Letterman, and at some point in the middle of the night, I started waking up to the news reports of the explosions in the underground. After a few minutes, I realized that this wasn't just news - this was news that could affect someone I love. I got up and e-mailed Delara to see if she was OK. I even checked her blog. Within minutes, she called to say she and Dan were both fine. Later in the morning, I called my friend Monica, whose son also lives in London, and he's fine too. She knew immediately when she heard my voice why I was calling. I can't help but think about those parents, spouses, children, and friends who sent similar e-mails and never got an answer. My heart goes out to them.