Tag Archives: father-in-law

Christmas Post-Mortem: A sweater

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Hey guys, guess what.

I made a sweater!

(Surprise!… I guess.  I make a lot of sweaters.)

This one was made for my father-in-law.

Last spring, he asked me to make him a sweater, and I have trouble saying no (or maybe I just like having an excuse to make another sweater).  So, I asked him exactly what he wanted.  After all, if I’m going to put all the work into a project like this, I wanted the finished project to be something he’d wear, after all.  We talked about cables vs. stripes, crew necks vs. V-necks, yoked sweaters vs. raglans.  We talked about ease and fit.

And then my husband brought out a sweater I had made for him years and years ago.  It was a Ben sweater, knit in forest-green Berroco Vintage.

My father-in-law took one look at that sweater and said, “That.  That’s the sweater I want.  Except… can I have it in gray?”

So, I knit up another Ben, this time in gray.img_3860I love the cable/texture pattern.  It’s a fun, easy knit that packs a big punch.  And it’s crazy warm, perfect for Northern Illinois winters.img_3854Unfortunately, I forgot to take a big “finished project” picture before I wrapped it up, but needless to say, it’s a pretty great sweater.

Have you ever re-knit a pattern for multiple people?

Christmas Socks

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You know how families come up with little sayings and quotes?  One of the things we say is “Christmas socks” in a very silly voice.  Actually, in this silly voice (skip to about the 50 second mark, or just watch the whole thing.  It’s funny.):

It’s Mr. Bean’s Christmas special!  We watched it every year, and I always thought it was fantastic.  (Still do, although now I realize how ridiculous the show is… and that laugh track!  Oof.)

So, now, every year when we’re opening Christmas presents, if anyone gets a pair of socks, we all say “Christmas Socks,” just like Mr. Bean.

And this year, my father-in-law will be receiving Christmas Socks.  (Even if he doesn’t get the joke.)

I finally finished my orange socks!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m so pleased with how they turned out.  I love the reinforced slip-stitch heel, and I can’t get enough of the basket-weave pattern on the sock uppers. (It’s a pain in the butt to knit, but it looks great!)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI’m so happy with these Christmas Socks!  Now… just to make Christmas presents for the rest of the family… Wheeee!

Manly Socks

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Here’s the annoying part about being a knitter:  When people learn about your hobby, they all want knitted things for their birthday/Christmas/Arbor Day.

And here’s the sick part about being a knitter:  You want to make stuff for everyone.

For example,  my father-in-law is notoriously hard to find gifts for, so when he mentioned to me that all he wanted for Christmas was a pair of hand-knit socks each year, I couldn’t help but oblige!  I even had a pair of fairly large manly-looking socks in my stash of finished projects in a lovely burgundy-brown color.  Easy-peasy!

He loved them, and wore them the rest of Christmas break (which made me very happy-it’s always great to see your work being appreciated).  But there was a problem:  They were WAY too small.

Not too small that he couldn’t get the socks on or anything, but my knitter’s eye couldn’t help but notice that the sock was pulling across the ball of the foot and the heel was much too close to the toe.

It drove me nuts!  I pulled out a couple skeins of sock yarn from my suitcase and started working on next year’s Christmas Socks then and there (what?  Don’t tell me I’m the only one that travels with a selection of yarns and needles.).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

Unfortunately, these socks are slow going, for many reasons.  First off, I kind of forgot about them for a while and they hid somewhere in my knitting studio.  Second, I’ve been crazy busy with a bunch of pattern writing and haven’t had time to finish these guys.

But most of all, these socks are annoyingly large.  A few extra stitches per row and several inches longer than my standard socks.  And, I picked a cool-looking, but annoyingly complicated basket-weave stitch.  It all adds up to very slow going,

Ugh.

Oh well, at least I have 5 more months to finish them!