[jQuery] Problem traversing up list

Hello there, after too much sarching I have almost give it up with the following. I have a list with another list nested: <ul>     <li id="item1">Item 1       <ul>         <li id="item1-1">           Item 1 - 1         </li>         <li id="item1-2">           Item 1 - 2         </li>       </ul>     </li> </ul> Let's say I know the ID of "item1-2" or "item1-1" how can I get the id of the li (item1)? I have tried with: alert($('#item1-1').parentNode().id) But it gaves me an error, maybe just because it is an aberration...