Durrow aka The Brit Killing Sweater

Matt’s sweater is finally done.

I cast on for this in December of 2006.

The combo of the crazy detailed cables on the sleeves:

And completely reworking the construction to be a saddle shoulder sweater based on Matt’s measurements instead of the raglan stock sizes that came with the pattern:

Meant that there is an insane amount of work in this sweater. More than any other project I’ve ever knit.

The yarn is Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed – it is a cashmere/merino/silk blend and is absolutely the most delicious and luxurious yarn I’ve ever worked with.

So between the expensive yarn and the guy there was a lot of pressure for this to be the Best Sweater Ever. I didn’t want Matt to be stuck with a sweater that didn’t fit – or worse be stuck wearing a sweater that looked homemade and shoddy just to make me feel good.

Plus - He’s a designer. Knitter or no more than anyone else he would notice the details and if they were well executed or not. I understand that perspective all too well.

This sweater had to be perfect.

So it sat in pieces – I think fear of failure more than anything else kept me from finishing it. After all of that work it would have been crushing if it wasn’t beyond amazing and that’s a pretty high standard to live up to.

But this Christmas I wanted to do something extra special for Matt. Because, really? Having a spouse who was sick for months had to be no fun at all. But he’s taken incredibly good care of me and Gizmo without complaint.

And Dexter, too!


So I finished it. And you know what? I shouldn’t have been worried. It’s a fabulous sweater that fits him perfectly. All of the work I did redesigning it completely paid off and I’m not sure it would be possible to make something crappy with this wonderful yarn.

He totally deserves this sweater and all of the work that went into it.

Totally.

Ravelry link: Brit Killing Sweater
Pattern: Durrow from the now defunct MagKnits - available on Ravelry here.
Yarn: Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed
Modifications: The only thing I kept from the original pattern was the cable and the ribs. I used the Knitters Handy Book of Sweater Patterns to rework all of the construction and sizing so that the sweater has saddle shoulders and is sized to Matt. It was a giant pain in the butt but worth it in the end.
Verdict: SUCCESS!

Have a Wicked Valentines Day!

I don’t know how another week has slipped by with no posting or reading. Feb has been nuts.… how about a list?

1.) This past weekend Matt’s brother Joel and his girlfriend Ellen came to town. Funtimes were had, indeed. Friday I made a biiiig pot of chili and we had a “family game night” with them and my brother and his girlfriend. Poker was the game of choice - because winning money from relatives is always a good time.

2.) Sat night was Rockband Party Part II. And since Matt’s bro was there and my bro was there clearly we needed to form The Family Band:

We are rockin' it like the Jackson 5.

Maybe more like Hanson.

There are many more pictures on Carolyn’s flickr site but I won’t subject you to them – although the series of Matt trying to take the guitar away from me so I wouldn't press buttons before the game started is pretty hilarious. It ended in this:

I’m smug, Matt’s annoyed, and Andy is … drunk.

Also? Carolyn has a video of me mocking my brother because he couldn’t keep up. He was playing bass on easy. And he plays guitar in real life. So there was clearly no reason that we should have kept getting booed off stage…. luckily it’s not on youtube. Yet.

Aaaah siblings.

3.) So I was having a really crappy day at work the other day. That happens. So I gave in to the temptation and went to Starbucks to get some motivation in non-fat chai form. And I found this:

Just a book, right?

Nope. It’s a Book Crossing book!

Bookcrossing is this superfun website where you get to release books into the wild and then whoever finds them can log them in and track their journey. Totally made my day. Especially because…

4.) Tonight along with 2 other couples we are going to see the musical of Wicked! So excited. We don’t usually do anything for Valentines Day so I’m really looking forward to it.

5.) In blogging news – Dove Knits has nominated me for a Make my Day award.

Thank you so much!! That really made me smile – especially considering that I haven’t been so much with the blogging lately.

6.) In yarnish news – go check out Tricia's new store Earthly Hues. She uses all natural dyes a lot of which she actually grows herself (her garden is AMAZING). Very, very, cool. I can’t decide which colorway I want to buy! But I think the indigo roving might be calling my name…

7.) And finally… In order to alleviate some life/work stress I’m focusing it all on this:

The Brit Killing Sweater is alive and kicking.

I have the back and front completely done, am 75% done with one sleeve, and decided to knit this one to that point so that I’m sure to make them match when I start the armhole shaping. Somehow knitting something extremely complicated makes other things seem… less so. If I can knit cables like these I can certainly deal with whatever crap I run into elsewhere, right?

Dirty little secrets and my knitting spot.

So my plan is simple. While I’m blogging Peru and before I can touch the yarn I bought in Peru (you’ll see it in the next post which is taking for-ev-er to put together. We took a crazy amount of pictures in Cusco.), I’ve decided that I must clean out the Basket.

See the knitting at used to take over our house. Ok honestly it still does take over… but Matt used to get really annoyed about finding it everywhere (mainly on his side of the couch. He’s very territorial about the couch). But you all know how it is. The knitting does not want to be contained. It wants to roam free and multiply… But to keep my husband happy and our house organized I solved the problem with this:

The deal is that if Matt finds the knitting anywhere it’s not supposed to be (his side of the couch, kitchen table, on the stairs, all over the coffee table, on top of the microwave, on the computer chair, on the keyboard, etc.), or anywhere he doesn’t want it to be he can put it in the Basket. Totally a fair deal. I’ve also somewhat trained myself to put things I’m not working on at that moment into the Basket. Things I’m currently knitting (current is relative. The Basket is technically all “current”) usually live here:

On top of the couch cushion next to my couch spot. It’s not super neat but at least that way there is no threat of sitting on a needle and I don’t have to get up to reach my current/current project. Anyways the combo of the Basket overflowing onto the floor, not having anywhere to put my new pretty, and the thought that I should probably finish things before I start something new… well…

Let the excavation begin!

The top bag was filled with this:

Which is just yarn for knitting charity hats. That’s a totally acceptable thing to have in the Basket and doesn’t really count as something to finish up since it’s just ongoing (don’t really even usually blog about those). But in the bottom of that bag I also found a

Steelers Newborn Hat:

I completely and totally forgot about this. I knit this in an afternoon a few months ago for my husband’s childhood friend who is currently pregnant (actually, by now, she might have already had the baby). I just need to buy a card and send it.

Details Sock:

Ok this one is so very close to being done I’m not sure what my problem is. I finished it the first day we got back, but couldn’t sew up the toe b/c my tapestry needle was taken away from me in the Lima airport (Seriously. Like I’m going to cause any damage with a tapestry needle). Well I stole a needle from my mom and went to sew up the toe and realized that somehow it wasn’t centered…probably b/c I was half asleep and jetlagged while I was knitting it. So I need to rip it out the toe and reknit it. Not that big of a deal and yet it’s over 2 weeks later and I haven’t touched it.

Sahara:



Boo. Boooooo. I love the body of sweater. It fits great and is so pretty and shiny. But the arms… Booo. I have to figure out how to knit the sleeve so that it doesn’t gape at the armhole, knit it, and then rip out and reknit the bad sleeve. It’s probably not all of that much work but it just sounds so unfun.

Here and There Cables Scarf:


Oooh. This one is baaaad. It’s been in The Basket untouched since… (checks the blog)… March 1st. I love this scarf I just got bored of it. And I also want to knit a hat that matches.


Ok the next thing I can see is the Britt killing sweater and I’m not quite ready to unearth that yet…



Apparently I have issues with follow through….

Bets on if I can hold off and actually finish something without casting on for something new? Especially since there has been talk of a Thrummed Mittens Knit Along?

I wouldn’t take that bet if I were you.

Knitting Roundup

So … I have lots on the needles right now and I’m getting kindof bored with of all of it. I think this is just a case of taking on too many largish projects at the same time. Here’s what I have going:

Step Socks:

Haven’t blogged about these yet b/c I figured they would be done super-quick and I would just wait and show them as a finished project. That was weeks ago when I was first told to stay off of my foot. I knocked out the first sock in no time….I think there was some sortof thing going on there – my foot hurt so I was compelled to knit socks to keep that foot nice and warm. Well now my foot is feeling better and the second sock is taking for-ev-er. Although today I started back with taking the bus so hopefully with the bus knitting they will start to grow faster….

Oh yeah – the yarn is Austerman Step…. It has aloe in it. It's amazingly soft and nice.

Matt’s Durrow:

Ok this one I’m not really bored of at all….I’m fine with it taking forever. It’s supposed to. It’s my long-term project. And cables like this don’t appear overnight:
Yeah. My plan that this was going to be done by his birthday (which is in 8 days!) is soooo not going to happen. Perhaps for next Christmas….

Mmmmmalibrigio Scarf:

Haven’t blogged about this one yet either b/c I figured it’s a scarf. How long could it possibly take? Silly me. It's on size 9's and has many, many cables. So not a fast project... but I'm loving the yarn. This is my first malibrigio project and it won't be my last!

I think I need to pick one and obsess over it until it’s done. That way I can move on to bigger and better things….

Like ripping apart my kitchen.

Wintery Weekend

So this past weekend we finally made it out skiing! We went to Peek ‘n Peak NY – which is only about 2 hours away. Not the biggest/baddest hill in the world but still pretty nice for being close enough to ski and come home in one day.

Matt jumping:

Andy jumping:

Me jumping:

Yeah right. That was Matt again. I don’t do jumps.

Then Sunday I spent all day recovering from the skiing by figuring out the neckline for Matt’s sweater. Crazy-making I tell you. See the Durrow sweater as written apparently has a very wide neckline. Plus it’s sortof a raglan/saddle shoulder combo which I’m not such a fan of. So I used my handy dandy Book of Sweater Patterns, a calculator, some graph paper, and one of his favorite sweaters and I think I have it all worked out. I’m making it have a set in sleeve with a wider saddle and a crew neck. I may be headed for disaster with all of this math and modifications but whatever. I’m not in any hurry with this. Hopefully I’ll have the back done tonight!

I also watched an embarrassing amount of the Winter X games. I love the X games. Love them. And the coverage was just so positive. It seemed like during the Olympics all Bob Costas wanted to talk about was the people who "lost the gold". It was all about building up impossible expectations for a few US athletes and then focusing on their defeat. I mean seriously how much did we hear about Lindsey Jacobellis or Bodie Miller (who deserved no media attention)? And how much did we hear at all about less mainstream sports or about athletes who weren’t American? It was annoying. Well the X games are just the opposite. I mean sure they take it seriously but last night when Sean White – the superstar - didn’t win the SuperPipe there wasn’t some big montage of his failure… instead they focused on how amazing Steve Fisher (the winner)’s run was. It was very refreshing.

So… how much does it have to snow to have a snow day from work? We’re talking like national emergency snow, right? I think I’d be fine with that.

Durrow is actually happening

So I did do quite a bit of knitting while on my hiatus – and I only knit on one project. I think that’s some sort of record for me. Check it out:

The back is almost to the point where I need to make a decision as to what to do with the neckline, the front is started, and I’m through the first chart and one whole repeat of the second chart on one of the arms. The cables are kicking my ass – they require A LOT of concentration, a magnetic chart holder thingy, and nearly complete silence or a glass of wine – one of the two. But I totally think they are worth it:


As a side note Matt has renamed this his “Brit killing sweater” thanks to watching Braveheart while I was working on it. Offensive, yes, but amusing. I don’t quite have the heart to tell him that the cable pattern is based on an Irish manuscript and isn’t really Scottish at all… although the centered double increase technique is Celtic…. Whatever – I’m just glad he likes it so much!

Manly Knitting

Several of you commented that we should set up a knit along for the men in our lives… well… Robin and I did! This is the first time hosting a knit along for both of us so we’re very excited about it. Check it out:

Come on over if you want to play along and knit a sweater for a guy.

Other than that I’ve done no knitting of late. Haven’t even had a chance to swatch for the Durrow… it’s been a crazy week. But the tree is up, the annual shopping trip with my dad is complete, and I’m almost (meaning sortof kindof not really) done with my other shopping.

Tomorrow I’m baking cookies all day with my mom and my grandma – it’s tradition that we get together and do that… so I probably won’t get to picking names for the merino until Sunday. Just wanted to let you know.

Have a great weekend!!!

The next big thing

Check out what the UPS man brought me yesterday:
That would be 15 balls of Jo Sharp Silkroad Aran Tweed to make my husband his very own Durrow. It’s seriously amazing yarn – 80% wool, 5% silk, 5% cashmere. By far the most expensive and luxurious thing I’ve ever knit.

I think he deserves to have me spend all of my time, energy, and good yarn on him, though, since he does put up with me spending my time and energy on good yarn!

I haven’t even swatched it yet. I was waiting until I finish the Thuja kneesocks and a few other things… my resolve is weakening, though… it’s just so soft….and really, I think I’ve done enough of the Christmas crafting for this year….