Ye Olde Weaverknits: Sweaters for the Dud

At some point earlier in my life, I started calling my dad "The Dud." It stuck.

In lieu of any progress I can show you at the moment, here's a look back at two sweaters I made for my Dud last year. First up, Baltic from Alice Starmore's Fishermen's Sweaters. I used 12 skeins of worsted merino from Greenwood Hill Farm, which is one of the best yarns I have ever used for anything... so soft and yet so durable... why weren't you at New Hampshire Sheep and Wool, O Greenwood Hill Farm?... plus less than half a skein of Malabrigo in an unknown, dark-green-and-black colorway. I omitted the bottom border (the "hard" or "fun" part, depending on how you feel about stranded knitting), but other than that knit to pattern to produce a 45-inch chest sweater.

This was meant as a Christmas present for 2005, but was actually completed in February of 2006. I vastly overestimated my own speed and began it about 2 weeks before the holiday. Shockingly, I made it through most of the body on time, but the arms just killed me.

Next is the Irregular Rib Raglan from Teva Durham's Loop de Loop. I used 6 skeins of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in the "Fir" colorway that I got on sale at Little Knits (but which is absolutely worth full price if you can afford it, you know what I mean, those of you who have used it), which knit exactly to gauge, but stretched lengthwise significantly during blocking. I had to shorten the body and sleeves in the days between Christmas and New Year's. However, this one WAS finished on time... Christmas 2006!

This pattern, I must say, is more difficult than it initially appeared to me. In order to join the sleeves and knit the neck, it was necessary for me to rip and tinker several times so as to line up the ribs as best I could.

Oh, and I omitted the toggle. The Dud is not a toggle guy.

The Dud wears these all the time, particularly Baltic. I have another sweater planned for him this fall. In the wheelchair, he gets cold much more easily than before, so I take it as my duty to keep him both warm and stylish. I could go on and on about how fantastic he is, but you can check out my earlier posts for that.

For now, I'm crocheting something purple, a test crochet project! I LOVE it and it's almost done... I'm going to contact its creator to see if I can show some pictures here, hopefully soon with a link to her pattern!Isn't the sunset coming into the plane we took to Michigan this weekend lovely?