The Man-Sweater Knitalong

So, my best Jess and I decided it was time to knit ourselves a sweater. A while back, Knit Picks had some of their Wool of the Andes on sale for $1.59 a ball. An auspicious time to undertake a project that (in my case....cuz I'm bigger) will take upwards of 15 balls of yarn. But what to knit?

I probably own, no lie, over fifty knitting books—and do I really need to count all of the magazines I have? Over the years I've seen scores of sweaters that I'd love to knit, would look great on me, or include a technique that just looks like it would be cool to learn. So, choosing a sweater to knit should be a piece of cake, non?

Non. Too many choices! Also, in the spirit of true -alongatude, we needed a pattern that Jess and I could both sport. For those of you who don't know us, Jess and I don't so very much have the same body type. I weigh an entire 2nd grader more than she does. We are the Amazon and the Pict. (We should have t-shirts or something.)

So, after a fair amount of ruminating...by which I mean "Whaddya want ta knit?" "Uh... I dunno?" We settled on Ann Budd's Cambridge Jacket from Interweave Summer 2006. We ceremoniously and with great fanfare dubbed it a Man Sweater Knitalong and commenced to ordering our yarn.

Jess went with Iron Ore (a pretty rusty red color) and I bought Blueberry (tealish). We both decided that in addition to making ourselves a sweater, we would try to move outside of our color comfort level a bit. As an interesting side note, the cardigan that Jess knit for the Olympics, which is her only adult sweater to-date, was a green with some blue to it. Meanwhile, I was knitting in nothing but cinnamon, brown, and red for MONTHS. Apparently she and I chose to move out of our own comfort levels.... and into each others. Go figure.

This sweater also has the advantage of a technique that neither of us has tried before: the sewn-in zipper. I am totally not counting "finishing a knitted sweater for myself" as a technique I've never tried before. I have knit my little people scads of sweaters....same technique, less staying power....or something.

Currently, my ManSweaterKnitalong-o-Meter is at approximately 25%. I'm less than an inch away from shaping for the armholes on the back. I've used nearly three balls of the 15 I ordered. I think I will have enough yarn, but that it will be close enough to make me sweat.


P.S. I really want to make the Icarus Shawl, from this same issue. I will, however, be re-christening it the "Daedalus Shawl" cuz dude.... do I really want my wings to melt from crashing into the sun, and then to plummet down into the sea and drown? Meanwhile Dad is circling around at a reasonable altitude saying "JEEZ! Why don't teenagers listen?" No thank you. Daedalus Shawl for me, please.

Well, aren't I a lamer then?

I don't know why I haven't been blogging more consistently. Too much other stuff going on, I guess. I am getting some knitting done, I'm happy to report.

I'm trying to decide how to make this blog coincide with my Ravelry—I definitely plan to continue this blog, but some of the information on it is going to become redundant. Do I need a running tally of projects in both places? I think I may quit using the percentages in the sidebar completely on this blog, because Ravelry does it so seamlessly. I will probably continue to update my Recent Work list though. Hey, I need all the encouragement I can get. Look Virginia! She really does finish things! Not just cast them on!

Okay, enough omphaloskepsis and on to the pictures!


Last month I blogged about the Nasty Acryl socks that I'm knitting for Iris. I have a serious hate on for that yarn. But! I persevered, and the socks are finished.

The socks are finished, the yarn is no longer lurking in my stash and that's one more Christmas/Yule present finished. Good times.



In a moment of weakness (Hey, I went to Angel Hair Yarn, Co. with Koren and no-longer blogless Cindy) I bought yet more sock yarn, and cast on a sock for me that is delightedly NOT acrylic.


Self-striping yarn makes me happy. I am a simple woman. I am seriously considering flouting my OCD ways and deliberately making these socks wackily-fraternal. We'll see if I can make myself do it when the time comes.

In other news, have you checked out Knitpicks new funknatious wooden needles? How cool are they? I just acquired some double-pointed sock needles, so a report on how they knit will be forthcoming. (P.S. the DPN sock needles come 6 in a set. How awesome is that?)