I finished Max’s sweater last night (and tonight I am
finishing it again – more on that in a moment). 
It is knit from a super-bulky single-ply Peruvian wool is a gorgeous
teal with hints of purple (Cascade Magnum). 
As Sarah said, the sweater knit up “in about five minutes” — 2 sts/inch
and 3 rows/inch.  It is our own
improvisation of a drop-sleeve pull-over (basket weave worked in the round to
the armholes and then a ribbed yoke and short funnel collar).  Simple sleeves – though I ended up leaving
the cuff open (i.e. I did not sew up the first 2”) because it would have been
kind of tight otherwise.    

It took me longer to finish because I kept putting it
off.  Finishing is not my favorite anyhow
– and with yarn as thick as my finger and stitches the size of marshmallows,
well, I figured it wasn’t going to be pretty. 
I decided to sew it up with a finer yarn and it actually worked out well
enough.  I also put off weaving in the
ends (could I have just left them hanging like dreadlocks and call it a design
element?).  But last night – with
Thanksgiving looming and that nagging I-just-want-to-finish-something feeling
that overwhelms me from time to time when I have a number of projects going – I
settled in front of a movie and just did it. 
Not too bad – though I hope everything stays put (a perpetual anxiety I
have about woven-in ends).

The sweater is kind of a beast, but I like it.  It can stand by itself (almost).  It is kind of like armor and I am hoping
Sarah will knit up the Viking Hat kit she bought at Stitches West last
winter.  With his Scandinavian/German
coloring, Max would look positively Wagnerian!

We put the sweater on Max this evening and it was all very
nice.  Except.  Except that it was a little short.  It is generous through the shoulders and the
length of the arms, but the body looked skimpy. @$#%&*$#.   Nothing to do but heave a great melodramatic
sigh, pull the sweater off the child, dig out the remaining tangle of
gargantuan yarn and do a pick-up-and-knit ribbing around the lower edge.  Naturally, there was a knot in the yarn and I
had to cut and re-attach it.

When I get done posting this blog, I am going to drag myself
back to my knitting, finish the ribbing, and weave in the 4 dreadlocks.  Hopefully, I will not have to finish this
sweater a third time.