In Which I Overcome My Susperstitions

I knew when my boyfriend showed up for our first date wearing a knitted (albeit not hand knitted) sweater vest, that perhaps this could be the man for me. (Way to jump to conclusions Lynn!!!) I vowed that I wouldn't dive right into the "I'm knitting my boyfriend a sweater" stage for a while as I didn't want to freak the poor guy out. As we sat over Indian Food on that cold and rainy night however, he spoke of  how many siblings he had, where his family was from, what kind of food made him sick (thankfully, not Indian)... While he filled me in on first-date-details, I did my best not to look like I was doing a brain scan of my stash. I have a mental rolodex of yarns I own, yarns I could own, yarns I want to own, patterns I love... and if I meet you and really, really like you, I start a search of that catalogue- without even knowing it.

When I heard it through the grapevine that his 30th birthday was looming, I felt that that was my green light to go. Interesting, because I'll have you know, I'm quite a superstitious person- this is something I'm not proud of. For those that missed the memo, there is a well known superstition amongst the knitting world known as the 'sweater curse' which essentially tells us to 'never knit your man a sweater, unless you have the ring'.
Five months before his 30th birthday however, I gave myself a pep talk, made the decision to test fate, and cast on.

By the end of November, I handed him over his sweater.

Honeycomb cabling on a man??? Yes please.

When I first made this crazy idea known at the shop, many eyebrows were raised. I can't say I blame anyone for doubting me. My track record is pretty shady when it comes to actually finishing projects. So for me to get through this sweater is a major milestone in my knitting career- especially, getting through it on time (deadlines are something that I desperately struggle with, even outside of my knitting life).

Since when did I get all grown up and pay attention to the calendar?

 

I'm pretty sure I'm going to get 'spoken to' about this posting this photo

My mother also had her doubts when I got the crazy idea to get knitting a project bigger than a foot. So much so that she even called me at home on a Sunday after I had swatched a couple of yarns (which is to say that I must have meant business) to try and talk me out of it.

You see, my mom actually really likes my boyfriend, and hated to think that I might dump his sorry (and cold!) self if I tried to knit him something other than socks.

Turns out, I didn't. I made it to his 30th birthday and was able to gift him a sweater. It's been a few weeks now and at this point, we're still a team (which is to say that we have overcome the sweater curse- thus far).

Sorta neat, right?

Should you want to make this sweater for your favorite man's 30th birthday, that's neat too.

Here is what you need to know.

Pattern- Sandnes Peer Gynt Fritid 9809-1 by Halla Einarsdottir (out of print)
Yarn- Sandnesgarn Smart, 18 balls
Needles- 3.5mm and 4mm Addi Turbos

And if you're still having a hard time believing that I actually knit a sweater for a grown man all by my lonesome (for which I wouldn't blame you)...

The proof is in the sweater tag.