I feel as if I have been knitting the Brick pullover for Doug forever.  I have been remarkably monogamous to this project; since finishing Smoulder and Peerie Flooers at the end of December, I have knit nothing but Brick.  Still, it seemed as if I was never getting anywhere with it.  This weekend, I finally got to a point where it feels as if progress is being made.

On Friday, I finished knitting the front of the sweater, so that the entire patterned part of the sweater is now complete.  (Remember that the front and back are knit in one piece; one very long piece.)  Saturday morning, I knit together the side seam, using a three needle bind off, and then sewed the shoulder seams (from the right side using mattress stitch).  Then, even though it was still missing a neck band, waist band and sleeves, I washed and blocked the main piece.  The sweater responded beautifully to being washed, the wool plumping up and becoming soft.  It is very lightweight and the stitch definition is lovely.  It also dried very quickly, so on Sunday morning, with my first morning coffee I picked up stitiches around the neckline and started knitting the neckband in 2×2 rib.

The neckband is knit twice as long as needed and then folded over and hemmed.  When I got to the half way point, I asked Doug to try it on so I could judge if the neckband was wide enough.  Emma and I grabbed the opportunity to take photos, despite the fact that it had snowed overnight and was freezing out.  What is standing out in your shirtsleeves in the freezing cold, compared to furthering the cause of fashion?  So, here is Doug wearing Brick, with a half finished neck band (the stitches still on the needle), no waist band (which is why it looks too short and has threads hanging from it) and no sleeves.

In the above photo, you can see the needle at the neck line and the grey yarn that I am knitting the neckline with trailing across the back.  Nonetheless, you can see that it fits really well and the pattern and colours are lovely.  The finishing details to this pattern are so well thought out; I can’t say enough about how brilliant all of the little touches to the pattern are, like the shoulder below (the edge of the sleeve will cease to be wobbly once the sleeve is cast on).

We got Doug to model it with a jacket so you can get a better idea of what it will look like when done.  I think it looks really great this way (just ignore the knitting needle still holding the neck band stitches live).

Now, I only have miles and miles of ribbing to do, to finish the sleeves and the waist band.  I only hope that I can keep powering through and avoid the temptation of all of the lovely yarns just waiting to be cast on.  And avoid the dreaded second sleeve syndrome.  Despite the progress, it still feels like the never ending sweater.