Well, after 6 months of persistence, it is finally finished… For the most part anyway… The hand-knit wool hoodie!

The back story:
For years I have worn a zipped wool sweater… I love it still… Wool (along with silk) is maybe the finest natural gift ever given us to be worn! It wicks, it warms, it can even cool in the right environment, it fixes itchy feet, it weather’s wonderfully, it even makes a decent outer layer in a light rain, and it retains insulation value when submerged… It’s magical… So when my sweater started to show signs of wear beyond recovery (not unwearable, just unbearable to companions), I started putting out feelers to friends, family, hobbyists, and professionals, that I came across, to help me find the perfect hand-knit wool hoodie. After a year (or more) of searching, I had still come up with nothing. As fall started and with my impending country walk on the horizon, some words that my friends Josh and Leslie said rang in my ears.
“If you want a wool hoodie, you’re just going to have to make it yourself”. Now, I’ve never been a knitter, and I’ve heard many horror stories about the long, strenuous, and often disappointing process of sweater knitting that made me a bit leery about making one. Not to mention, I had never even completed the age old, “first knit project” , scarf… But as the weeks grew colder and only etsy (which I thought about but had my concerns with style and fit) and sporty manufactured Patagonia styles to choose from… In mid august, with some coaxing from Josh and Les, I made my order of 10 skeins of high quality, sustainable merino wool from Montana. After wheatland and harvest gathering had come and gone, and my mind was in a place that I DEFINITELY needed something to focus on, it was time begin. With the wonderful teaching style of Josh ( “Here are some needles and yarn, let’s see how you naturally knit! Hey! you’re a continental knitter like me!!” Which was perfect for me, by the way), and the more traditional tutelage of Les ( “Come here hun, watch me. Push through, pick, pull back… You’ll get it” ) I casted on my first 188 stitches of what would become the next 6 month consumer of my downtime.
In the end, after three complete pullouts of the hood, an uncountable amount of partial pullouts, an order of two more skeins, and a generous donation of the apparent one of a kind accent color from Josh, I have what I am calling,
“My hug for myself”.

Based loosely on a children’s sweater designed originally by Elizabeth Zimmerman and adapted to be an adult style sweater on this blog by Jared @ BrooklynTweed (you’ll notice I loved the look of his so much, I mostly borrowed his color scheme), and with the great advice from Josh, Les, Carrie, cousin Allison, Aunt Barb, Nikki, and of course, my mother, it’s done!

I was even lucky enough to have the multi-talented Jarrod, artist extraordinaire who also happens to sling pints at Founders, whip me up some custom Asian black-wood buttons to round the whole thing off.

One little extra feature that I’ve built in is an extra button on the side to cinch the torso down when it’s an under layer, windy, or whatever… since the root of it’s need was the perfect winter camping companion…

I’m loving it and happy to be done!

So if anyone is interested in my pattern, I have made super clear and easy to understand notes….. Ha!

Thanks to all who were part of this amazing self discovery project!
Specifically, in order of appearance:
Mom, Josh, Les, Jared, EZ, Carrie, Nikki, Allison, Aunt Barb, and Jarrod
And of course all of my friends who cheered me on along the way!
You are all now collectively built into my wearable hug!!!