Skye



 "Skye" by Brandon Mably (Rowan 52)

A new year, a new project, the first of this new year, and a very first vest (or sweater of any kind) for my darling husband.
 

I could go on and on about the beauty to be found in the Rowan 52 magazine but I'll be succint and simply say: stunning, arresting! So many of the patterns of the Hebridean pattern collection called out to me. How about "Bute" or "Orkney" and of course "Skye"? Making a sweater for my honey was high up on my list of things to do, so enter "Skye".

Sure, I've made many a sweater for our little boy but those were, well...so tiny! (and even now, I'm only making size 2T's for him!) So, a man's sweater? Huge! Daunting! And would he even wear it? "Skye" was an incredible compromise. No sleeves (yay!) and extremely rewarding and visually effective colorwork.

I made the XS size and followed the instructions to the letter except for the neck edge and the armhole edges where I somehow didn't really absorb the instructions. I had seamed everything and because of that I ended up knitting the armhole edges and the neck in the round (Note to self: read patterns carefully instead of assuming, especially when it comes to finishing).

Oh, and an important note too: thank goodness I had ordered an extra ball of the beige, Buttertubs ,otherwise I would most defintely not have had enough. I do have leftover skeins of all the others though - do I foresee a miniaturized version for our little one next winter?

                                       

I am so pleased with the vest and the fit too, especially since I did the back and part of the front whilst visiting my family and the interested party was not there. I thouroughly enjoyed myself making this as it was pretty simple shapingwise but had the very entertaining systematic colorwork - reaching the next color change became quite addictive. Oh, those colors! It fits him beautifully and I take it as a good sign that he's worn it three days in a row to work and is asking for more handknit sweaters, and a homesewn burgundy shirt to go with the vest. In fact, he even floated the idea of me making all of his clothing. (More thoughts on that later but for now...yay!)