The slowest moving project in history

Though Moe doen't knit much (as in: at all) he still understands and appreciates yarn a lot. Whenever I hand him something handknit, he will - without a doubt - lift it up, feel it and then smell it :)

About 18 months ago I thought I would knit a pullover for him. He deserves it. And I wanted it to be very 'him'. I asked about colour, shape, look, feel, etc. I went back and forth in books, magazines, friends' books and magazines, and searched the Internet from one end to the other. Still I didn't find what I was looking for. But then Jared Flood made his version of the lovely and most brilliant Spiral Yoke Sweater by Meg Swansen. Moe and I agreed that this would be the perfect thing for him too. And he was crazy about the colour. Unfortunately, Jared Flood used yarn that would be impossible to get my hands on. I had to look for an alternative - not an easy task. I searched high and low; no yarn seemed to have that vibrant semi-solid, rich, red tone I was after.

I believe it was Trine who brought my attention to Berroco Ultra Alpaca. I had some of it in my stash already, but had forgotten all about it. I didn't have enough to make Moe's pullover with it but at least now I knew what to buy. The yarn arrived and everything was good. Except, I didn't have the pattern. The pattern was published in Handknitting with Meg Swansen - a book no one had in stock. I waited for quite some time (patience is a virtue, I know) and one day it arrived at my doorstep. With both yarn and book right there in front of me, one might think that I would be ready to actually begin knitting. No such luck. Because the yarn is 100% alpaca it's very soft and I was beginning to fear that the pullover would be hanging from Moe's shoulders like a sack of potatoes. I realised that I needed an additional yarn to support the alpaca.

This quest sent me directly to Isager. A semi pleasant experience, I must say. Nice shop, nice staff, nice yarn. However, while I was there a dog puked on the floor(!), the yarn - Spinni 33s - was sold out, and I had to wait in line for a long time while people talked about the dog's sick on the floor. Later it turned out that the colour was discontinued all together, which made my waiting both in the shop and the following two weeks seem meaningless.

Uldstedet came to my rescue - thank God :)

The wool, Spinni 33s, that was so hard to get. This picture represents it's true colour.

The two yarns together - irl, they both are a bit darker.

Ready, set, swatch! :)