Eire Lust, Stupid Vee & Holding Pattern

In celebration of her 50th birthday, my Mom booked a trip to Ireland. My tough as nails Mom -- who birthed me at the ripe old age of 18, kicked male-ass-wipe #1 to the curb, went to college as a single Mom, met another man and fell in love, married him, had another baby, went to graduate school, graduated with straight A's, renovated a few houses for the profits, kicked male-ass-face #2 to the curb when it became oh-so-necessary, bought her own house, renovated it, and bought another to flip it, all while working full-time -- has never traveled outside the U.S. and has been dreaming of this trip to Ireland for as long as I can remember. She's leaving on Friday, and I'm SO excited for her.

But I'm also selfishly delighted by the gift possibilities, and Mom invited me to submit a wish list. What should I list? A kelly green rugby jersey for Little Man? A jersey for me? 1600 yards (1460 meters) of dk or aran weight wool from Blarney Woolen Mills or any ol' farmer she meets along the way? A woven shawl, exactly like the one I bought for Mom at the Aran Sweater Market in Kilronan, which would match my most deeply adored scarf? Perhaps a kit to make a clan sweater in my mother's ancestral name? Help! I need ideas.

The LiuVee Vest (named after the parton saint of inexpensive Jo Sharp yarn, Christine) is finished, but I need to rip out the ribbed neckline and fix a stupid mistake in the Ve section. [why do I always make stupid mistakes?] Then ... blocking. However, I have a blocking problem. I have no space for it. Every square inch of our apartment is used. Must design an alternative. Once we're in the new house, we'll have plenty of unused/non-cat/closed door spaces. But for now, hrumpf and a wee argh.

Thanks to Rose-Kim Knits, via The Purloined Letter, I have a fancy new calculator to tell me exactly how little I've accomplished in my Icarus quest. I've completed 39% of it. 39%??!! How can this be? Granted, it's been sitting in the corner for a couple weeks, but before that, I was knitting and knitting and knitting on the damned thing. After picking it up again yesterday, I started repeat 5 of chart 1. This morning, as I was bearing down on that feathery lace section, I was feeling so accomplished. Even after considering if it needs another repeat for additional length, I still felt good about it. But now I'm feeling every bit of the 61% left to go! And let's not even discuss how much work I'd add with another repeat (69%!). Perhaps it needs to go back into the time-out corner.

Remember those Socks for Sanity? Yeah, it's time. The amazing sock yarn in my stash is calling to me.