A few posts back I asked the question “Do you love your husband enough to knit the sleeves?” Apparently, the answer is yes.

I have finally finished knitting the Brick pullover for Doug and I must say I couldn’t be happier with this one. I love everything about it – the colours, the mosaic pattern, the lofty, light wool, the fit, the feel, the beautiful detailing; but mostly I love how great it looks on Doug.  It was made for him!  ( Literally!)

We are on holiday now in the American Southwest, a far cry from England.  Remember my last post complaining about seasonal knitting disorder? Here is a prime example of that.  This is me putting the finishing touches on Brick while sitting at the pool at my uncle’s house in Palm Desert, California.

Sitting poolside while sewing down the hem in a man’s wool sweater;  I must be crazy, right?  Leah, on the other hand, has the right idea:

Yesterday, we were driving and hiking through the Joshua Tree National Forest, which has the most amazing landscapes.  Big boulders strewn around, desert forests of gorgeous and unusual cacti like the Joshua tree, high promontories, sweeping valleys, beautiful light;  it is really very unique.  Leah described it as “a cross between being caught in a Dr. Seuss book and being on Mars”.

As we drove through, Emma said “This would be a great place to photograph Brick” and Doug reached into my knitting bag, pulled out the virtually finished sweater, and then dutifully posed for a million shots all over the JoshuaTree National Forest, while Emma said things like “Smile”, “Just a little bit to the left”, “Climb up on those rocks”, and “Pull in your gut” while snapping away.

In the middle of the National Forest, there is a huge patch of cholla cacti which is amazing.  It is spooky and surreal and feels so completely alien.  We arrived there as the sun was setting and the cholla seemed to glow.

The observant reader might have noticed a few paragraphs ago that I mentioned Doug reaching for the “virtually finished” pullover.  It certainly looks done, does it not?  What was left to do?  Well, I had finished everything except for seaming the underarms.  See?

This morning, of course, I woke up bright and early and finished the seaming and then made Emma and Doug go outside and take more photos, for the sake of honesty and thoroughness in knitting blog reporting.

And, some details.

And even more details:

And so, four long, arduous months later, Brick is finally finished!  I can’t say enough about how much I’ve enjoyed this project; it’s a very satisfying knit and a beautiful pattern.  Now I can knit something else – guilt free!