I have finally finished TJ’s sweater, and it is perfect timing. Today is our 6 year anniversary, which is hard to believe (this fall will be 10 years since our first date!!).

Pattern: Beagle by Norah Gaughan
Yarn: Berroco Vintage in Cracked Pepper
Needles: US 7 and 5

I am not going to lie, this thing was a nightmare. The knitting was fine (albeit time consuming with all the double seed stitch), but I love knitting with Vintage so that was ok. It was what happened after it was blocked. This thing was ENORMOUS. I was so disappointed. It was too long all over, and way too wide. It looked like a dress on poor T. So I had the bright idea to stick the whole thing in the dryer on it’s own. It’s superwash, what’s the worst that could happen? Yeah. It shrunk down to the right length just fine, but of course it didn’t help the width. Which would have been fine, but it was absolutely covered in pills. It looked like it was 25 years old. Seriously. I cried and cried. I swore. I called myself an idiot. I vowed to give up knitting. It was messy.

What happened next was nothing short of a miracle. Many hours later with my sweater stone, it looked better, but still really fuzzy. I decided that I would sew up the sides anyway, to see what that would do. I had never sewn (and then cut!) a sweater, but I didn’t have much to loose. And wouldn’t you know, it worked! But unfortunately it still looked super fuzzy. Sort of like a Muppet.

So in a last ditch effort I took my electric sweater shaver to it last night, for over an hour. I shaved off about the equivalent of a cat, in addition to the huge pile I had after I used the sweater stone. This sweater is probably about 1/2 a pound lighter then when I started. But I think it turned out ok!

It is still a little fuzzy, but I am choosing to call it “distressed”. I could sell it and charge extra for that, right? It is so unbelievably soft, that I think it will be a good one for cold evenings on the couch in the winter.

TJ loves the yarn, although he has asked me to make it into a turtle neck. I think that will have to wait a few weeks until I am over the trauma, but how could you say no to a face like this?

Happy Anniversary sweetie, here’s to many more! (In better constructed sweaters!)

Lest you think I never knit anymore, I have been plugging away on several different projects. If you remember back in the new year I joined our guild’s 12 in 12 challenge for the year. So far I have kept up not too badly:

January – Owls Sweater
February – February Lady Sweater
March – Ambrosia
April – Amiga
May – Romney Kerchief

Which brings me to June:

I am knitting a Beagle sweater for TJ, and it is sooo close to being done. In fact if I spend a couple of hours on it tonight it should be all laid out blocking before I head to bed. (As an aside – Vintage? Still my very favourite yarn ever.).

I am sure you are thinking….um, isn’t it August? But I am not as far behind as it sounds. For July I knit my MIL a short sleeved cardigan. Unfortunately it is too big, so when I go home in October I am going to have to find a way to shrink it down. I am hoping to do that without frogging the whole thing.

For August, well, I haven’t started August yet. I am going to make this wrap sweater, which it shouldn’t take me too long since it is in bulky yarn. I might also try to squeeze in Bryn Mawr, which TCS is doing as a knit-along, but it is the 24th so the chances of that are slim. I also have a comissioned project that I need to get in gear on, so that will be one of the upcoming months.

What is everyone out there working on? Any languishing projects that you are finishing up?