St. Mawes, originally uploaded by AMK.

Well, Brad's surprise Christmas gift from 2006 is about half finished. Some changes have been made to the original plan.

1. It's no longer a surprise. How on Earth I thought I could knit a massive piece of fabric without him ever finding out is beyond me. I was making this thing at a snail's pace during times when he wasn't around. Besides, how could I have hoped to make it fit him without having him available to try it on at key junctions in the knitting process?

2. It's no longer a gift for Christmas of '06. Clearly, that was a naively ambitious goal. He'll get it for Christmas this year (if he's lucky).

Other than that, things are going well. This is St. Mawes, a pattern by Rowan, using Rowan All-Seasons Cotton (a lovely, lovely yarn to work with). I'm making it with a V-neck instead of a round neck, at Brad's request. I'm also (quite generously, I have to admit) not forcing Brad to wear the ridiculous accessories.

I've got the front and back pieces done now, and will be starting the sleeves next. This is the worst part of sweater-knitting for me. After finishing two big pieces of fabric, sleeves seem totally doable. Sleeves don't seem that huge when you're wearing a sweater, but they take deceptively long to knit and look surprisingly large when they're a flat piece of fabric unattached to the rest of the sweater.

This is pretty much all I've been doing in my spare time lately now that biking season seems to be over and it's rainy most of the time and far too fall-like.