This summer, Chris and I spent a very enjoyable afternoon at Lismore Sheep Farm. At the end of the day we each came home with a sweater's worth of yarn. Chris chose a beautiful dark charcoal, I chose a very pretty heathery brown, flecked with reds, greens and blues.
It took a couple of months, but that pile of yarn has become this pile of sweaters!
Chris knew exactly what he wanted to knit with his charcoal yarn. Apparently he had a very favorite sweater when he was a kid, it was charcoal grey, it had a rolled cuff and neck, perfectly plain sweater with raglan decreases. He wanted to reproduce it exactly. So, he swatched, he learnt all about the genius that is the Elizabeth Zimmerman percentage system and within about a month or so he had his perfect sweater!
Sure, I helped him along the way when he ran into trouble, but Chris knit this entire sweater himself! It's only his second knit, his first was the hat he knit this summer which taught him how to knit in the round on circulars and on dpn's and how to increase and decrease, all techniques that he used in this sweater. Honestly, I was a little skeptical when Chris said that he wanted to knit himself a sweater. I was worried that it was too big a project to tackle so early in his knitting career. That if it didn't turn out perfectly that he would be discouraged and never knit again! Not to mention the miles and miles of boring stockinette stitch. He had been nagging me to knit him a sweater like this for years, but he's 6'3" and has really long gorilla arms, the thought of knitting this sweater was just too much for me. He accomplished it like a champ. The sweater is perfect! Honestly, I think that Chris is a natural. He is meticulous and obsessive, both very good qualities to have in a knitter. He did admit to finding it a little boring at times and I think that his next sweater might have some stripes to keep things interesting.
The great thing about Chris is that when he finds an article of clothing that he likes, he wears it literally every... single... day! He's like a kid that way. It's very cute, he loves his sweater.
But the knitting didn't stop there! Somewhere around the second sleeve, Chris got a little tried of knitting monogamy (we've all been there) and he was tempted by the urge to cast on for something different. He wanted a grey striped scarf with fringe. He dyed two custom colourways in TFA Yellow Label DK weight yarn, a dark almost-black and a medium grey, and then started knitting a plain garter stitch scarf. I have to admit, this scarf is awesome. I haven't knit a plain old scarf like this for a while. When I was teenager it seemed to be the only thing I knit, now I'm always looking for fancy lace or cables, but this thing is just so squishy and comfy and cozy. It really is the perfect scarf! I think I'm going to get Chris to knit me one.
I'm very proud of my new knitter. I am trying to keep my cool about it, I don't want to be too in his face about how truly excited I am about this. He's been talking a bit about his next project, I think he wants a new ear-flap hat, he's also mentioned knitting his mom a scarf... such a sweetie!
It is grey and dreary here today, raining and windy. Perfect day to stay indoors and craft. I think I'm going to do some spinning this evening. Happy weekend!