Next!

One of Ryan's Christmas presents was his choice from a book I recently purchased. It's Rowan's Knitting for Him. Rowan has great patterns if you're (a) a man or (b) a woman with a 34 inch chest (which I haven't been since, oh, I don't know, 6th grade).

This is the one he chose. Unfortunately, the yarn they suggest, a RYC blend of cashmere, wool, and microfiber, is somewhere around $9 a ball and it takes about 20 balls. For those of you who are slow on the up-take or have already started your New Year's drinking, that's somewhere around $180.


Being the resourceful girl that I am, however, I found equally fabulous yarn for about half the price. Knit Pick's Andean Silk in Chocolate is the orders I got. I think it will look pretty nice. Andean Silk is a wool, alpaca, and silk blend. I have a couple balls of this yarn and not only is it incredibly soft, but it knits up great. It gets a little sheen from the silk and has the kind of stitch definition that will look great in this sweater.


And ladies...before you ask...the nice young man in the pictures does not come with the sweater (sorry, Mom!).


I just have to wait until I get paid again! Because of course I need some more 14 inch Lantern Moons to get it going.

The Sweater Goes to England

The Sweater. The stuff of legend. I read somewhere the other day about how women in some knitting traditions would not start knitting their "betrothed" a sweater until the day the wedding date was set. This may be the origin of the sweater curse.

I no longer fear the sweater curse. Ryan loves the sweater. He wore it a lot while he was home. I had to wash it before he left (that was a lot of fun...wet hand-knit sweaters are HEAVY). He's picked out others with scary things like pockets and collars. He's not going anywhere. He knows that he's spoiled rotten. He might even get some socks if he's a good boy.

My family had to be told during Thanksgiving dinner that it was The Sweater. They hadn't even noticed. I'm assuming that is a testament to my skill and not a commentary on their powers of perception.

I think it looks pretty good!

I'm Thinking of Throwing a Little Party

The sweater is done.


Ahhhhhh.

After waiting forever for yarn. After waiting even longer for needles (I could have walked to Vietnam faster). After knitting and knitting and knitting. After blocking and waiting for pieces to dry. After re-doing the neck four times, increasing the number of stitches and the size of the needles. After ripping out both sides and re-doing them, too. After more hand-sewing than I ever like to do. It's done.

It even looks like a sweater.


Hoooray for sweaters! Now, he just has to come home and get it!

"Back" to the Sweater

I now have not only two (count them) sleeves, but I also have half (or so) of the back of a sweater! It's amazing really. Now all I have to do is finish the back, do all of the front, find someplace big enough to block them, sew them together and finish the collar. No problem!

Fun with Sleeves

I have a sleeve.


I have started another. That's probably a good thing. This sweater would look pretty silly without two, eh?


I also have a cool kitty-proof bag. Ginger says, "Drat! Foiled again!"



He might just get this thing on the 26th!