June 16, 2017

Gary has welcomed the idea of me knitting him a sweater. He says I should go with my gut, so here I am swatching up a design idea for sweater. If he likes the hat, then I will proceed.

The alternate idea is to spin a mash up. Then he can choose between the two.

The inspiration is the picture of the dresser, with its moody blues.

June 26, 2017

Needle was too small. It’s too tight to be a real hat, so now it’s just a swatch.

I think I need a different chart. I’m happy with the colors though.

August 12, 2017

Calling it a swatch and moving on. Going to the Little Red Mitten to by a sweater quantity of yarn. Now, how to decide how much to buy?

August 13, 2017

Went to the Little Red Mitten yesterday and got my yarn. One of my colors was from the deep stash and is now discontinued. I’ve had to substitute another color, so fingers crossed that I get a similar look to the swatch.

Starting off with K2P2 ribbing that will last the rest of the summer I believe….. But ah! The thrill of a new design. :)

August 31, 2017

Ready to split for the armholes. I have 20 motifs at the navy/Burgundy part of the pattern. That makes it much easier to divide the sweater in half.

21 stitches put on hold for each arm. 11 on the right, and 10 of the left side of the marker. Cast on 8 sts for each steek.

September 21, 2017

We had arrived at the happy place where I get to see it on an actually body. It looks so different walking around! I love it. But I don’t love the collar I chose. I suspect I may have to rip and reknit that.

October 28, 2017

I keep walking around the house going “whew! I can’t believe it’s done.” I see my brother next weekend, so for the last bit, I’ve been pushing towards that as my deadline.

Things I learned:

• I have a lot to learn about putting together color patterns. This is nice, but quite simple really.
• A swatch is to a sweater, as a wallpaper sample is to papering the whole wall. It just looks different when you see it all over, instead if just a bitty square.
• Do one thing at a time. I get too many ideas in my head and that just over complicates things.

November 4, 2017

Gifted it to Gary today. He loved it. The fit is perfect and he especially loved the length of the sleeves.