A Little Knit Magic

Look at that smile. That's the smile of a man who is happy to have a hand-knit vest.

I picked my parents up from the airport tonight and was finally able to give my Dad the Wall Street vest. It's about eleven thousand degrees in my house right now (on account of the concrete sanders in the basement -- don't ask, just trust me, construction sucks and it never never never ends) but he had to try it on. That's wool. Heavily cabled wool. He knew it would cook him like a lobster in a shell, but he had to try it on anyway.

Gotta love that reaction.

It was so hot that he wouldn't wear it long enough to settle the shoulders properly, and the vest looks like it's extremely wide, but that's just because of the way he pulled it on. It's actually a good fit, though a little loose around the bottom. But that's okay. The pattern is designed to be that way.

He's still smiling. The vest was removed, neatly folded, and left out on the table so he can show people as they come by the house.

I spent half the day fighting with Shedir, tinking round after round of the crown shaping, swearing up a storm at the pattern and the yarn and at my inability to put the two together and somehow get a hat. I made a map of the stitches on the needles, and then I made a map of the pattern itself to compare it to, and I still couldn't find the fix. I was within inches of sending Shedir to jail, but I kept thinking about the poor ill woman who needs a little comfort, and how what she's going through is far worse than a few miscrossed traveling stitches. Actually, that was my pep talk. To try to keep me knitting.

It wasn't working. I was that frustrated.

But then Dad opened his gift, and I saw him light up, and I remembered why I knit for other people. They don't always appreciate it, but when they do ... magic.

And just like that, I was able to see exactly where I got off track with Shedir. The fix is surprisingly easy, just a miscrossed cable right before a decrease, which was why I couldn't see it. The decrease masked it. It's too late now to finish it, but it will be finished tomorrow.

And here's hoping it brings a little knit magic to its recipient.