Holiday Gifts

It's that time of year. The time when the intrepid crafter starts to think about what to make for their loved ones for the holidays. Well actually, it's the time of year when the crafter with not as much foresight as some of her co-conspirators starts to think about her holiday gifts. There are people who start months in advance. My mother has said to me on more than one occasion that she hates going shopping during the month of December. She really does plan out in advance to get at least the majority of her gifts before then.

As for myself, I think that I am not doing too badly. I hate shopping for gifts. This is mostly because I hate shopping generally. Except grocery shopping, that I can handle. So instead I am making gifts. Or looking online for the tough cookies. Fortunately for me, Honey's family are easy. I'm cooking Christmas dinner so I'm off the hook for gifts. My family, I don't know yet.

But I have made some headway on my gift for Honey. I'm knitting a sweater. I know you're not supposed to knit for a man until you've got a ring but I think that's a lot of hooey. And if it isn't hooey, then I think that only horrible sweaters that the knitter hates making and the giftee hates wearing can really cause the curse to come true. My sweater will be neither of those things.

Observe: 

The sketch complies with his needs and mine. His needs are very specific. It must be a pullover, without too much patterning. It needs to have a collar that comes up around the neck. I need it to have at least a few things going on so that I can knit it without getting too bored halfway through and giving up on the whole project.

 The "swatch", by which I mean the patterned band around the centre of the sweater, has been a success. I am enjoying knitting it and it's dense enough to pass muster.

Yes, it's purple. The photo is a little more luminous than the actual colour (that will teach me to wait until after dark to take pictures) but it is purple. I know that there are men out there who reject wearing purple but Honey isn't one of them. He looks good in purple and so it makes the accepted color list. Thank goodness. I'm not sure I could handle making a plain grey sweater in that size!