Anyone who has followed my blog for a while knows that I like to knit for my family. And when I'm not knitting socks, I really like to knit sweaters. I love giving socks and scarves as gifts, but, I have to admit, that nothing really floats my boat like making and giving a special sweater. You can invest time and effort in a sweater, knowing that, while it will someday wear out, that wear time will be much longer than socks. It's a knitted gift with a much longer lifespan, permitting nicer materials and where extra attention to detail really feels like it pays off.
But there's been one person in my life that I've had a dreadful time finding the right sweater for: John. True, true, if you go back through my archives, you'll find a couple of sweaters that I made for him. The truth is, though, that he doesn't wear them. The bulky one is too warm (and pills too much because the wool was softly spun) and Fitzgerald fits him in the shoulders, but is like a sack at the waistline, and he doesn't really love that. But he loves hand knit socks (as long as they are in the right part of the color spectrum), so I resigned myself to the fact that maybe the best thing I could do was make him many pair of special socks.
And then I found this:
This is the Aspinwall Pullover from the most recent IK. The sweater has several elements that are perfect for John -- the collar with the zip, the fact that the sweater tapers from the shoulder to the waist and the half brioche stitch region below the midline that is a favorite texture of John's. For me, its also fabulous that there are some interesting details like the color work motifs, not to mention the fact that the model is knit out of a spectacular alpaca, wool, silk blend yarn (the Fiber Company, Terra) that will make this sweater a real luxury item, as well as warm on his commutes to work.
But you know what's even better? When I showed John the picture, I got a thumbs up -- well, a qualified thumbs up. He'd prefer if it was done in dark red or dark green, which I think would be fine without changing the colors of the colorwork motif. I just can't believe that I've found a sweater that should be perfect on my guy shape wise and that he likes, and that I really want to knit. I think this sweater is meant to be.
Clearly, even if I ordered the yarn today, he wouldn't get it for Christmas, but, lucky for me, there's still a whole lot of winter ahead. Now I just need to find a good place to order the yarn from and fire up the ol' credit card.... and welcome the good knitting mojo back in!
But there's been one person in my life that I've had a dreadful time finding the right sweater for: John. True, true, if you go back through my archives, you'll find a couple of sweaters that I made for him. The truth is, though, that he doesn't wear them. The bulky one is too warm (and pills too much because the wool was softly spun) and Fitzgerald fits him in the shoulders, but is like a sack at the waistline, and he doesn't really love that. But he loves hand knit socks (as long as they are in the right part of the color spectrum), so I resigned myself to the fact that maybe the best thing I could do was make him many pair of special socks.
And then I found this:
This is the Aspinwall Pullover from the most recent IK. The sweater has several elements that are perfect for John -- the collar with the zip, the fact that the sweater tapers from the shoulder to the waist and the half brioche stitch region below the midline that is a favorite texture of John's. For me, its also fabulous that there are some interesting details like the color work motifs, not to mention the fact that the model is knit out of a spectacular alpaca, wool, silk blend yarn (the Fiber Company, Terra) that will make this sweater a real luxury item, as well as warm on his commutes to work.But you know what's even better? When I showed John the picture, I got a thumbs up -- well, a qualified thumbs up. He'd prefer if it was done in dark red or dark green, which I think would be fine without changing the colors of the colorwork motif. I just can't believe that I've found a sweater that should be perfect on my guy shape wise and that he likes, and that I really want to knit. I think this sweater is meant to be.
Clearly, even if I ordered the yarn today, he wouldn't get it for Christmas, but, lucky for me, there's still a whole lot of winter ahead. Now I just need to find a good place to order the yarn from and fire up the ol' credit card.... and welcome the good knitting mojo back in!
That IS a beauty. I can see it on his lean frame. Terra is nice yarn...not sure about the pillage though.
I loved that one too. It will definitely be flattering on John's body shape. Looking forward to your project notes!
I noticed that sweater for my hubby too, and I think it would be much better in a dark green or red rather than the blue.
Can't wait to see how it knits up. I promised my husband a new sweater for next season, so I'm keeping an eye on blogs for ones people liked knitting.
Well, actually, the kicker is that the sweater is not actually blue. It's grey. The color reproduction in IK is abysmal. If you look at the sweater by the designer on Ravelry, that will be clear. And, if you look up the "Shale" colorway online, you'll see it's darkish grey.
I've just ordered a bunch of yarn in the "Beet" colorway and am now praying that it will be in the right color range. I looked at every website I could find that was selling the stuff, and there was an incredible amount of variability in photo and color quality. I guess if it arrives and isn't quite right, I'll send it back and figure out what other yarn I can substitute.
I don't knit a lot of sweaters, but the majority of sweaters that I do knit are for my husband. He loves them and wears them lots so I keep making them. It is nice to fine the perfect match! I'm looking forward to seeing it in the works.
That's a lovely sweater. My husband hasn't gotten a sweater yet, but I did get him to agree to the Cobblestone Pullover (and now just need to knit it).
Finally there are more and more decent guy sweaters around. Unfortunately I'm in the middle of a one for my husband from Cotton Fine. What was I thinking--sock weight cotton?
I thought the model in the model sweater was knit up nice, too.