I’ve knit quite a few Flax Sweaters by Tin Can Knits through the years–most notably the scrappy ones I made for my nephews to use up bits of my stash last winter. I love the fit, the ease of the design, and the ability to knit mindlessly in public, whilst watching t.v., and on.

And so, I decided to knit doc his first sweater. Sure, I’ve made him countless pairs of socks and a few new hats every season. He’s got a number of scarves, and I even knit him a gnome once. But never a sweater. I was worried about getting the fit right; his proportions are so much bigger than my own and he’s quite tall with a broad chest.

But, Owool was having a massive moving sale and I snagged the requisite number of skeins for a sweater sized project to fit a big guy like doc. This was my first time knitting with this particular brand of yarn and it knits up like a dream.

In the end, I did have to make some minor adjustments. The body fit great but the sleeves were a bit long after blocking and bunched awkwardly on doc. So I ripped them back, removed about 4 inches, and reknit the ribbing at the cuff for a perfect fit. This, I realize, is an important part of the process of creating garments that actually feet great on and you know you will wear again and again. I have to constantly remind myself that most knitters have to rip something back–and that’s a good thing, not a failure.

This Flax Sweater was knit up using O Wool O-Wash Worsted (an organic super wash merino wool) in the Brown Bear color way, which is slightly black, slightly forest green, slightly brown. I love it.

More importantly, the doc loves it and wore it out on Saturday in all its glory. It’s given me the bug–I’d like to knit him another sweater this winter. Any suggestions for a great pattern? I’m thinking Grettir (but I still want to knit one for myself first), Atlas, or something without color work like Ranger. Patterns, please?!

You can read my notes here.