OK, I’ve finally decided what I’m making for the Olympics. Did you really expect me to decide before today? Seriously, I live for the last minute. And the 10-15 minutes after the last minute are pretty important to me, too. It’s the exact thing I knew I’d be making all along, but I didn’t want to settle on it right away. I wanted to explore my options, see what’s out there. You know, stretch the old needles beyond my boundaries a little.

See, I was toying with a few different ideas. A whole slew of mittens, a mountain of socks, a gorgeous lace shawl. But then I decided that I wanted to make something for my darling husband. I’ve been working really long hours over the past month or so (well, really for the past three years or so, since my current company was started.) and if you add knitting to that, well, poor Jon has been neglected for a while now. I feel terribly about it, so I thought if he was going to be neglected for at least another 16 days due to the Knitting Olympics, I should really make something for him. Jon is a really basic kind if guy. His color palette runs from green to grey. Maybe an occasional splash of dark red or blue here and there. The first sweater I ever made for him was Manly from Stitch ‘n’ Bitch. (He won the Hot Model portion of Drew’s ManAlong a while ago with that sweater.) The only change I made was that he didn’t want a stripe. Plain. He wanted it plain.

And so I looked hither and yon for a suitable sweater to make him. I pulled out a bunch of vintage mens’ pattern books, bookmarked the few mens’ patterns from my modern pattern books, and trolled the internet for something he’d like. Each one was a little bit not quite right. Turns out he’s not into cables, he’s picky about necks, doesn’t like weird texture, and just forget about a cardigan. Every time I showed him a sweater, he looked at his Manly (which he wears all the time) and said it just wasn’t as good. He loves that sweater even though it’s kind of small, the seams are a little wonky at the arm holes, and it doesn’t fit quite right because I knit it in the round rather than in pieces like it should have been. He calls it his sci-fi sweater because he wants to wear it in to the point of looking ratty and grimly futuristic. Then it will be perfect.

And so, because he has such love for this sweater, because no other can compare in his eyes, because I love him to bits, I will be making another Manly. Manly Redux! This time, I’m going to make it larger, make it better, make it stronger. This sweater is going to be bionic. And it’s going to be brown. Conveniently, I have two cones of the same yarn the original green one was made with, only in a nice tweedy brown. No stripe again, please.

I feel like it’s sort of a cheat because I’ve already made it and it’s pretty simple. But given the amount of time I’ve had lately, just getting this done in 16 days is going to be pushing it. I’m so looking forward to meeting up with Team Boston at Doyle’s tonight for the Opening Ceremonies. And I hope everyone else has fun plans tonight to kick this thing off. And I’d also like to thank Stephanie for starting this whole crazy thing in the first place. It’s just what we all need during the winter. Even if it is an unusually spring-like winter.