Sapphire Sweater

Sapphire Sweater. Amaranth Road Studio 2011. Click image for more photos.

When my husband proposed in 2009 he gave me a sapphire ring. In return I wanted to knit him a sapphire sweater. It's a little odd really that women get gorgeous jewelry upon their engagements and men are not supposed to expect any symbolic offering of love in return.

Knitting a sweater is a commitment. Knitting a sweater means investing in supplies and investing much more in terms of time. I have recently discovered that knitting a sweater for a man means an even bigger time commitment than usual, simply because you need to knit a larger garment! So with that deep blue ring on my finger I picked out blue cotton yarn (my husband can't stand the itch factor of wool). When that yarn arrived I wrapped it up, gave it to him for his birthday, and promised an engagement sweater within a year.

The year came and went. I wasn't done. I wasn't even close to done. A the end of the first year I think I had only the front of the sweater complete and I only had myself to blame. I was slacking off, big time. I can forgive myself to some extent. After all, I was engaged and planning a wedding and generally busy. But if I'm honest there's no real excuse. The pattern was simple. I was knitting the Cotton Classic sweater from  Never Knit Your Man a Sweater Until You have the Ring. It's basic stockinette stitch with only minor shaping and detailing. The gauge was average. I just didn't knit often enough.

The second year of sweater knitting began to slip away as well. At least I can say that I was faithful. I didn't take up any other knitting projects in the interim. I was dedicated to finishing the engagement sweater before taking on any other projects and I did make some progress. Then I got pregnant. And that lit the fire because I wanted to knit baby blankets and baby hats and baby shoes. But I was not going to let myself launch into baby projects without first completing the sweater that symbolized my love for the man I had married (a year ago!). So I got to work and when I actually put in some effort daily the sweater was finished quickly.

My husband actually wears this sweater. And not only for special occasions, or when he thinks I'll notice. He wears it to work. He wears it at least once a week. And there is nothing more lovely to behold for a knitter than the person they love completely wearing something that they made and actually enjoying it. The sweater fits perfectly, though there was some terror about sleeve length for awhile there and I think it will be a pretty durable piece of clothing. So finally, I have the ring my husband has the sweater and our baby-on-the-way has a navy blue and white striped blanket coming their way so that we can all be warm and cozy and loved.