{semi-related photo of yarn}

I learned how to knit when I was about nine, give or take a year. I'm relatively sure it was nine, though. I took an extended break through my teens and most of my twenties. When James was a baby, I realized that I could follow a pattern, and therefore, knit anything. Since then, I've tried to knit whenever possible, although I'll admit that I've had fewer projects over the last several years than I could have or would have if money had been no object. Still, it's probably my favorite crafty endeavor.

Anyway, in these years since I've been knitting more, I have knitted for my kids, for me, for friends, for relatives, for our priests, even for strangers a couple of times. But I've never knitted for my husband. He has made cracks here and there about how men don't really want handknits, but I can never tell if that's an act or not.

Anyway, today I was commenting on how sweater vests look "sharp" (that is my new word, by the way), and he actually said that if I knitted him one, he would wear it! Gasp! This seemed a momentous occasion in our marriage and in my knitting career.

Now I need to find a pattern. Something professorly, but not grandfatherly. That's kind of a fine line, I think. Stripes are definitely out (he told me so), which means Alberta is out (too bad, it's one of my favorites, by the High Priest of Knitting himself). There's the Basic Pullover and Vest from Knits Men Want, which is a book I really like, but the vest seems kind of dull (but maybe that's the point?). I totally love Dr. G's Memory Vest; those cables are fantastic! And then Delius is a gorgeous pattern (though the v-neck gives me slight pause). (Then again, I love the musical association of the name of the pattern.)

What do you think, friends? And also, should I throw another handknit onto the pile of Christmas gift knits? Am I that crazy?!

uncommon grace