The Knitting Fiend

I thought I would begin implementing my plan of knitting Jim a spider sweater. I very nonchallantly flipped through the stitch pattern book and showed Jim “The Spider”. He said: “Wow, pretty neat! ” (So far, so good.)

“Would you wear a sweater with this on it?”

“Not enough to be worth your effort.” ( Isn’t Jim tactful? )

Let’s face it, I expected this. We both agree it would be wonderful to knit spiders faced off on an afghan. But, he wouldn’t wear it on a sweater. So, no spider sweater for Jim.

Then Jim said “Hmmm… Let me see that book”. He sipped his beer and flipped through the pages. I sipped my pre-dinner wine and let him flip.

He began to exclaim:

“Wow, great cables! ” I sipped some more.

“This one is even better!” I glanced over and commented “Why, yes it is.”

Then, I heard, “Could you make me something like….” Jim gestured towards his chest, and described a classic Aran sweater with the cables of his choice.

Of course, he knows the answer to this: Yes, I can will make one, even if this means my dream of knitting the spider must be deferred.

This morning, I remembered that instructions to create your own “Classic Aran were in one of my books. But which? I have books published in the US; I have books published in France, the UK, Canada, Switzerland. Surely, it will be in one of the books published in English?

So, I pulled a bunch of books off my shelves.

Naturally, how to make a “Classic Aran” is described in one of the trusty “Mon Tricot” references. Even more naturally, it’s one I bought the year I studied in France. There it is: a full page article on smack dab in the middle of “1300 Points, Conseils, Astuces” which describes tons of Aran stitches, and assures me that:

“Ils vous permettront de réaliser des combinaisons originales et très différent.”

Hopefully, in addition to “original and different”, I can create something beautiful! I suspect the Mon Tricot authors knew better than to promise that. We’ll see what I concoct.

Now, can anyone recommend a really nice yarn for Aran sweaters? This will take time, and I think it’s worth buying the right yarn.