Tale of a Handknit Sweater

First things first. I have to thank Kim! Kim, I got your package last week (or was it even the week before? It was a Friday regardless). Dudes, check out what Kim sent me - a full Rhody Package (complete with coffee milk syrup, not pictured):


At the Today Show for the Yarn Harlot's Represent Tour, I mentioned to Kim how it was practically impossible to get your hands on a skein of Socks that Rock. So she sent me some! In a Rhode Island Red (that's the state bird rooster of RI) colorway!! I recently got her some yarn, and something else....but I can't give away any extraneous info before she gets the package! Now I have to find a fun pattern for the socks!!

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And now for the post you've been waiting for...on to the sweater!

I got out of work around 3:00 pm on Friday since it was Good Friday and my company realized that people were going to be traveling for Easter. I landed at The Point around 3:30pm where I knitted my heart out and finally bound off the front piece.

This photo kinda looks like the history of the sweater itself! I used size 4 addis



and with Knit Picks Swish Superwash



I'm not sure when it was done. I do know, however, that I was at the Point until about one am chilling with Berhan, Robert and Katy, weaving in ends and all that jazz. At the end of the night, this is what I had to show for myself:



So bright and early (alright, fine, so it was closer to 2pm, so sue me!) Saturday I headed back to the point. It was time to learn how to seam up the sweater. Berhan plopped a nice and big Mocha along with a book in front of me that showed me how to seam (he might have also given me an inkling as to how to actually put the damn thing together. And showed me how to do this:


I got the shoulders and most of the sleeves done on Saturday.



See those seams!? See those seams!? You don't do you? I'm just that magical! Not bad for my first go around is it?

By the time Men's night rolled around at The Point on Sunday, I had almost finished seaming the sweater completely. I was left with this:



All that was left to do was to the neck. After I got past the initial difficulty I was having with picking up stitches for the neckline, it took me about twenty minutes to knit the 1 1/4 inch rib for the neck. I wove in the last of the ends and finished it around 12:10am on Monday morning.


No photo can really do the thing justice. You really have to see it in person. Shouldn't be that hard though. I'll be carrying it around with me wherever I go for the next few days!

Presentation is everything though. I sewed in a tag that says the sweater was hand-knit by me. I've also printed out all the blog entries (with the exception of this one so far, of course) involving the Reflection Arran Pullover. I'm going to staple or bind them or something and give them to him before I give him the sweater. There will also be a list of rules that go along with the sweater. I'll post them here in a couple of days (I'm still working on the list). Ways he can take care of it, familial obligations revolving around the sweater, etc. They're rather amusing. They'll be accompanied by a release form for him to sign. Kind of like with the afghan I gave to Beth and Erich two years ago. Except they really only had one rule and are knitters so I didn't think I'd have to spell it out for them (I hope that one rule is being followed, kids!).

So, there it is in all its glory. Finished. Seamed. Knitted. The biggest, most monumental sweater that could. Now I can go back to those socks. Now I can get onto Ann's Midnight Dot Mittens. Now I can cast on for a clapotis or a Wedgewood Blouse...the possibilities really are endless!