An Inconvenient Knit*

If you're like me, you'll have a whole afternoon to finally clean out the garage and you'll become so hyper-focused on one toolbox that you'll polish each of the nails in it before moving on to anything else, and you'll run out of time for the big job.  Or you'll have the entire summer to prepare materials for your maternity sub, and instead you'll create a color-coded calendar of school events that he could have made himself and probably won't want, anyway.  Or maybe you'll be about-to-pop pregnant with a disassembled crib, nursery full of stash yarn clutter, no hospital bag packed, and a long list of to-knit-for-Biscuit-and-baby items, but instead you've become obsessed with that knit that, second only to the afghan, is the knitting equivalent of the Black Hole...the man's sweater. 

Doubly inconvenient as the heat index here is 110 degrees today.  Anyone for a woolen blanket across their knees in the playground sun?  Didn't think so.  Nevertheless, Cobblestone it is, and Cobblestone it shall remain.  I mean, check out that rockin' garter stitch!  And I know I'm not the only one who heeds the pied piper of tweed's call.  I console myself with the fact that I overbought on yarn and therefore, when I'm finished with this, I can make the Biscuit a matching Tomten.  Does it bug the heck out of anyone else that Interweave publishes yarn amounts in their previews but NOT the corresponding sizes?

Inconvenient it may be, but it's been a while since my last woolen love letter to Mr. Frick, and it's time for another. 

*  I watched "An Inconvenient Truth" last night.  I know- late to the party.  If you haven't seen it, hie ye to your Netflix queue and visit climatecrisis.net's "take action" link to find out what you can do to, among many other things, keep our beloved wool from becoming obsolete... 

Comments

[Sheila]

Oh, that OCD, getting totally focused on something other than the task at hand, but something that is only a part of it! I thought, I would be the one to polish the nails . . . so glad I am not the only one. I think that's why we knit successfully - total focus on the stitch.

[jess]

ha ha! you crack me up every time. :)

That tweed is gorgeous, completely gorgeous!

I'm with you on this sweater, the crazy adult male knit. I just started this sweater for my lovely hubby -- and my a/c broke last week (you know how icky it was here in NoVA last week, almost as bad as today)!

[Heather]

Yes, I worship at Jared's altar with the rest of the Brooklyn Tweed hags!;) I am thinking of making that sweater as well as sadly my husband is always last on my list. But first I must 1. write 5 syllabi (so glad I changed the book in two classes) 2. plan graduate student orientation and 3. do the entire curriculum for our Sunday School!! And what am I spending time on? Socks, more socks...

[Mandy]

yummy love letter.

[Nora]

You knit the best love letters!

[Haley]

thanks for making me feel guilty that i have yet to knit for my husband. the baby things are just so much more fun. he's on my list, but he keeps getting bumped. oh well. i'm also one for OCDing during cleaning (things like reading every letter in the box of letters I found, organizing the box of old medical insurance related papers by date and person and stapling related papers together, crap like that) and thus getting nothing done. happy knitting. you should have a little more time before you "pop." :)

[Ava]

I showed this to the Flyer on Sunday and asked if he liked it (yes, in another color, preferably black), but I didn't even hint at a date for a finish. I fear that his birthday in September is too soon to do. Get crackin' on those sub plans! We who have taken over 3/4 of the year maternity leaves in the past really like a little something to go by in the first few weeks. Mine left me the teacher's manual, an out-dated seating chart, and no IEPs. Good luck!!

[nikki]

"knitting equivalent of the Black Hole...the man's sweater" - AMEN to that. My honey's Seamless Sweater has been *almost finished* for months.

On a positive note, stockinette and garter are wonderfuly mindless fabrics to knit - especially handy for when theres a new baby in the house.

[Ashley]

The IK thing DRIVES ME UP THE WALL. What, we're going to hack the pattern if we know what the available chest sizes are? Criminy.

[nova]

If you overbought, then I probably did as well. I ordered based on what I thought was the necessary amount based on the enigmatic quantities listed. What color are you using? I think Special K is getting that very same sweater in that very same color (and probably, in that very same yarn...if you happened upon the bargain prices that Webs was selling the prescribed yarn for). Knit on!

[Lola]

Just the other day, I was mad at IK's for the no-sizes blunder. I wanted the sizes for the cover sweater so I could start my yarn search. It may break my No-Sweaters-While-Preggers Rule. But doesn't it look like it was knit for a belly to peek out?

[Allegra]

I am totally all those things these days! Except add in that I want to sleep all the time, therefore NOTHING really gets done!!!! Aaaargh! Hope you are feeling well!

[Ariel]

I'm exempt from the Man Sweater Requirement due to the Boyfriend Sweater Curse, but I have a probably-not-entirely-healthy love for tweed, and am itching to try that pattern. I can't wait to see how yours turns out!

[kelp!]

Word on the yarn-amounts-without-sizes in IK! I think I'm the last person around to get the new issue and I've got some yarn planning to do, dammit.

[tiennie]

I love this sweater - this is the one I'm working on too and am almost finished! I really like the color you chose.

[Liz K.]

Totally unrelated comment -- does the Biscuit like whirligigs? I was driving past a shop down the shore that had tons of whirligigs outside, and the first thing I thought of was him....

[Adam]

Yeah, I bought a copy of the Interweave while I was yarn shopping here in Seattle, and I'm dying to cast on. Although there's the matter of the Seamless Hybrid I was going to finish first. I swatched for that one already, and have the yarn, so I think Cobblestone will have to wait a bit. But I will return soon my love.

And I love that color you're using.

[amisha]

it is time for me to start e's annual sweater too... have no idea what to knit, though. hmmm. something tweedy, something simple... it might have to be cobblestone!

[Carol]

Well at least you started your sweater...

[susan]

OMG. I just read the woolen love letter to your husband and got the chills. That is just the sweetest thing. I adore how you put the message in the hem. You are both so lucky to have found each other. >sniff sniff<

[Sue]

Obsessive, or is it the pregnancy hormones. I too cant wait for my issue of IK to arrive too and knit up Jared's wonderful pattern. I dont think I could knit it in summer though unless I had the a/c turned right up. Thankfully it is winter for another month here.

[Knitterella]

In the 7 years I've been knitting, I have yet to make my DH a sweater. The Cobblestone Pullover seems like something he would like. It simple, yet has great details.

Looking forward to seeing how yours turns out!

Jill

[Carol]

I'm doing this sweater in the same yarn! Finished the first ball of yarn before I knew it. Hoping the rest of the sweater works out the same.

[Julie W.]

I have the same problem with planning for the maternity sub (although I have 2 months of school before I go out), a babies room to clean out of yarn and fabric and junk, multiple sweaters to knit for baby and all those at work expecting, and getting past the humiduty of late. I have two weeks to get a sweater done and get ready for school to start for the year. I wish I could knit for hubby, but it's just not on my list of things that must get done before the baby arrives.

[Miss Scarlett]

Ummmm I am not pregnant and that is how I clean out cluttery areas too.

re: Inconvenient Truth (fantastic wasn't it? loved, loved, loved having the list of things you could do listed at the end) I followed your link but couldn't find anything about wool -- what did I miss?