The Commitment Sweater

There is a somewhat foolish, but well documented, knitting superstition that you should never knit a sweater for your significant other before you are married or you will break up. One can only imagine the pitfalls for knitters in same-sex relationships, though I guess it would be one more argument in favor of legalizing gay marriage-- as if there weren't enough. And of course, we all know that people never break up after they are married.

Ever since I learned to knit, Eric has periodically mentioned his desire for a sweater. In the beginning, fear of such an undertaking caused me to refuse, but in the past couple of years I admit to feigning belief in the infamous Sweater Curse in an attempt to nudge along a marriage proposal. For shame.

So I have the requisite skills. Now I am legally wed. Hence, the Commitment Sweater. I have been planning this magnum opus since I started becoming confident in my knitting skills, but it didn't begin to really take shape until this fall. I have been searching for just the right pattern and just the right yarn. I have done hours of research on Ravelry. Now I'm ready to start!

Eric is probably unusual among husbands in that he actually likes going to yarn stores. We made a couple of trips together so that I could get a feel for his color and texture preferences. We're both excited about this:

Berroco Ultra Alpaca in Mahogony Mix. Yum.

I always planned to make a seamless sweater-- sewing gives me the willies-- and I had initially decided on a pattern for a top-down raglan. With a 50% alpaca content, my yarn of choice does not behave well at 4.5 stitches per inch, the gauge called for in said pattern. Too much drape, too much stretch. I realized I needed a more open-ended pattern.

Early in my knitting career, my mother bought me The Sweater Workshop by Jacqueline Fee. Again, I don't think I was quite ready for the idea of knitting sweaters. Additionally, the sweaters shown in the book have a distinctly 80s look, which might be cool in 2009, but has never been my cup of tea. Sorry Mom.

Flash forward to 2009. I need a sweater pattern that can be adapted to any yarn and any size. At some point I gave away The Sweater Workshop, which teaches you to make such a sweater (crap crap crap). From somewhere in the depths of my memory, I recall the name Elizabeth Zimmermann. Don't tell any knitters that I may have forgotten her name. She's something of a knitting goddess, or was one. In knitting circles, she goes by EZ.

I checked out Knitting Without Tears from the library. I don't feel I can approach a decent description of how entertaining and useful this book is. Besides, many many many people have already done so. In it, EZ describes five ways to make a seamless sweater, using your own yarn and measurements. I say describes, because they aren't really patterns so much as very chatty formulas. This part scares me a bit, because I like the security of a pattern that tells you exactly what to do. But you trust in EZ kind of like you trust in Jesus.

So I'm going to take the plunge today. I already have my gauge sample:

Washed and blocked-- I'm such a good little knitter

Now to cast on 242 stitches!