More proof that I'm insane!

First up, I'll do a progress post later on this week. I've made quite a bit of progress on both the Icarus Shawl and the River Rapids Socks.

Way back in January, my brother decided he wanted me to knit him a sweater. I said alright, and added that he *might* get it by Christmas (I took pains not to mention which Christmas). Originally, I took his measurements and wanted to knit him one from scratch. Having only knitted one sweater before, I thought that this might be a bad idea. So I started the quixotic task of trying to find patterns that he would like and wear and that I wouldn't shoot myself while making. Last weekend while on Cape Cod for my grandfather's 80th birthday party (my brother and I rarely get a chance to see each other) I showed him the Knitting Nature book by Norah Gaughn that I had with me. I needed to fix the straps of the Roundabout Leaf Tank. There are a few sweaters in there for men, and I found that it would be fitting if I did one of the sweaters since my brother lives in Connecticut and Rhode Island and is pretty in touch with nature himself (seeing as how he's looking to get into turf grass management like my dad). My brother found this sweater:
Now, I'm not going to lie. This is an ambitious project, especially ambitious to complete before Christmas. I would need to start this like, NOW. But given that I almost finished the Angie sweater in two weeks, I think this is a possibility. The chart is mad crazy. But I love to cable. I especially like the cables that go on the sides all the way to the back. I think they'll be fun and particularly easy compared with the rest of the sweater.

He thinks he's allergic to wool because it always makes him itchy. I maintain that he just needs to wear a shirt under the wool sweaters he has, but like everyone else in my family, he doesn't think so and doesn't want to find out. So I decided I'd use Knit Picks Main Line in the color Blueberry:


In other crafty news, I'm trying to teach myself how to sew. My grandmother gave my mother one of her old sewing machines and my mother is giving me hers. I'm trying it out this weekend on a jean skirt. I'm recycling a pair of jeans that are beyond their usefulness as jeans and am going to flare it a bit and turn it into an a-line skirt. I'll be trimming the bottom of it with some fabric I found at Purl Patchwork that has been on my mind for quite some time now. I'm pretty excited about it. We'll see how it goes. I'll post my finding sometime soon!