Jumper of Love

Those of you who read my blog know I have a huge amount of love for my husband.  I couldn’t have found a better guy.  And trust me, before I met him, I was looking!  But I was lucky to finally find him.  Several years ago I finished an Aran jumper for my mum and he asked if I would knit him one.  Of course I would!  I was thrilled he liked my knitting enough to want one.  What I didn’t realise was how freaking long it would take to complete this.

One of the problems I was having was with my hands.  It would be very painful if I did more than a few rows at a time.  Being a slow knitter this  was taking several years.  What I learned after I was diagnosed with fibromyalgia was one of the symptoms is very painful hands.  I knew I had arthritis and just thought it was that.  But the meds I started this year, while not perfect, do make it easier for me to knit longer and faster.  There has to be some perks right?  So it took me several years to do just under 2/3s of this project and this summer to do the rest.

Jumper 1 2016

The Aran jumper had moss stitch, basket cable, banded cable, and the six knot cable (pictured above).  So I had a legal pad to keep track of all the rows and various patterns.  I always stress about this and like most of my complicated projects there are a few errors here and there but I’ve gotten to the point where I consider them my signature if you happen to notice them.  I’m not pointing them out!

Jumper 2 2016

I spent most of today sewing the seams and weaving in all the ends.  I can’t wait for my husband to get home and try this on.  Fingers crossed it fits!  And he’ll be doing this in front of the air conditioner as it is very toasty today.  🙂

Aran knits

Full disclosure, I may be one of the slowest knitters out there.  Which would have caused my Grandma to shake her head in wonder as her fingers could fly.  My dad has a long torso and he would come home and ask for a cricket jumper to be knitted.  It would invariably be needed within the week and she would get it done.  The first jumper I knitted was for my dad, it took me a few months and I would spend a few hours most days getting it done.  Needless to say I’m in awe of what she could accomplish.

Soon after finishing that mum mentioned she would love a cardigan.  So I went out and picked out a lovely purple yarn and found the pattern I thought she would like.  After much effort I had about 6 inches done and we were traveling together. She pulled out her knitting and I noticed she was knitting with purple yarn as well, and wouldn’t you know it?  She was knitting herself a cardigan in purple!  Just as well as she got to wear hers for a few years before I completed this:

And I’m working on a new jumper for my husband in the same pattern as he really liked it:

It’s taking awhile.  Good thing he isn’t growing!  🙂