The Sweaters You've All Been Waiting For

When a wife has a good husband, it is easily seen in her face.
-Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

. . . Betcha didn't know that there were two! This is a little secret only known to me and the ladies in my knitting group who saw me working on it. No tempting mentions on the blog of a "secret" project or tantalizing photos of heathered twisted stitches. Nope, not when the recipient has this blog as his first bookmarked page. I originally thought that the Dale was going to take me pretty much until next Christmas, so I thought I'd whip up a simpler sweater for the interim, like for a certain birthday coming in June. Turns out that I knit faster than I thought. Turns out I married a man who wants nothing to do with a plain stockinette sweater. As he put it - "If you're going to go to all that trouble to make it, why should it look like something you can buy?"

River Forest Gansey
Pattern: from Handknit Holidays
Yarn: Cascade 220 in Lichen Heather - about 8.5 skeins
Needles: US 7 for the body, US 5 for the edging
Notes: I measured against a sweater he had here, which worked pretty well. The sleeves are maybe a little long, but nothing dramatic. This was a fun, easy pattern. Love the all-over texture.
Best Thing About This Sweater: The utter surprise.

And now, the masterpiece that has really occupied my entire winter (one can easily imagine worse things, can't one?) . . .

Salt Lake City
Pattern: Dale of Norway Olympic Sweater for Salt Lake City (tragically out-of-print)
Yarn: Dale Heilo, almost all of 17 balls of the MC, 3 of the natural, and 2 each of the red and green
Needles: US 2, 3, 4
Notes: This may be the most knitting fun I've ever had.
Best Thing About This Project: "I never imagined I'd have a wife who could make this."'

That was so fun, I feel compelled to knit another. This time is mine. Park City in the natural colorway with a slightly brighter blue accent.

Well, the sweaters are packed to show off to the folks. We have a wedding to catch. See you next week.