Boyfriend sweater curse variation

August 25, 2006 at 10:35 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

So… I’ve heard of the boyfriend sweater curse, I’ve read about it, been warned about it, and heard drastic stories about it.

What do I do with this knowledge? I get a boyfriend, and decide to make him a sweater.

Now, there’s a little explanation to go along with it.

First, I did not dive into a boyfriend sweater with a guy that I’ve just met, or have gone on a few dates with, or that I’ve been going steady with for 6 months…

This happens to be a guy who’s been my best friend for the last 4 years and has gotten me through some incredibly rough spots. This is a guy who I’ve spent the last two months pretty well living with since my mother sold our house and I don’t go into residence again until the beginning of September.

This is also a guy who allows me to do this to him:

He’s gone to a bunch of things in costumes that I’ve made for him, and was even the instigator for making more. He’s a very good enabler when he wants to be.

So, to thank him for this, I decided to knit him something.

Being smart, I asked him what I could knit him (rather than just present him with a surprise.) Since he works in a factory, that opens the doors a lot and doesn’t usually achieve a temperature above 5 degrees Celcius in the winter, I started listing off scarves, mits, hats… small things that if he hated, I wouldn’t feel upset.

Unfortunately, he claimed that he didn’t want any of those as he would never wear them for fear of losing something that I’d worked so hard on. (I make a hat in 2 hours… out of cheap wool…. if he loses it, I’ll make him another one, but he’d rather frame it).

So after 2 years of this, I finally came to a conclusion… I’d start with socks.

I’ve worked in this self same factory for the last 3 years, and believe me, winters are horrible. The first winter I worked there, I was sure my feet were going to freeze off, even when wearing 3 pairs of store bought cotton socks. The second winter I worked there, I had a pair of hand knit, kroy socks (my first pair) that I wore over my store bought cotton socks in my boots. My feet were wonderfully warm, I didn’t have a problem, and I thought “aha!”

Socks would be something easy for me to make. My boyfriend has medium sized feet for a man, so I wouldn’t be slogging away at this forever, and he couldn’t claim he’d lose them, because they’d be on his feet, in his boots (if he figures out how to lose them with that, I’d be very impressed).

Also, I could make him a pair of plain, grey, stocking stitch socks for work, that he wouldn’t really be afraid of destroying, because they’re boring and easy to make. Then I’d make him a lovely black pair of dress socks with a simple stitch pattern that he could frame/ put on his wall/ stick in his wallet to pull out and say “my girlfriend made these for me” to his coworkers… etc…

When I brought this up to him (still being smart in case he had a real aversion to handmade knitwear) he mentioned that he would accept that, but also thought he might like a sweater.

I paused, this was different from the curse stories, seeing as my boyfriend had requested a sweater. Do I make him one and chance it, prior to the wedding (which isn’t anytime soon)? Or do I hold off and possibly disappoint him?

I decided to feel my way around this before I jumped into anything.

That was when I realized that there is a curse to this side of the sweater making.

The boyfriend requests a sweater, but when you try to figure out what to make him (so that he doesn’t hate it) his description is “Something nice that I can wear out on a date with you, like to dinner or the theatre”.

Hmmm… well… herein lies the problem… “Nice” to me can be completely different from “nice” to him, and if I make MY version of “nice” the sweater might get shoved in a drawer with my boyfriend thinking *please don’t let us go on a date or she’ll ask me to wear that ugly thing again*.

So… I spent the next month and a bit showing him pictures of sweaters and asking him what he thought.

It was difficult but I’ve narrowed it down to:

– Plain colour, NO varigated yarn
– Simple pattern, as in, not too busy stitch pattern OR a single cable
– Crew neck
– Possibly a single wide horizontal stripe, but iffy on that
– Simple 2×2 rib on edgings
– Raglan or set in sleeve.

I think I can do this, I might take it as a challenge to do my first raglan.

But trust me, he’s coming with me to pick out the yarn!