It may be hard to see, thanks to the dark colour, but the sweater is finished. I can now reveal that this sweater was made for my dear husband, though the sleeves and body may prove to be a bit long. In my concern that I would make them too short, I may have over-compensated, a fact which can never be discovered until the yoke is finished.

I’ve left it on the sofa (he’s already in bed) with a note, reminding him that this is the second time ever I’ve knitted him a sweater and that he never wore the first one (hmmm, maybe 25 years ago)! If he hates it, I will adopt it as a snuggly accompaniment to my new jeans.

I’m surprised that at 11.30 at night I’m still awake. With it being Chinese New Year, I was up late last night with friends seeing in the New Year with the appropriate rituals, which included a lot of bowing (I crawled into bed at 1.45am) and repeating similar rituals again early this morning. Four and a half hours of sleep means I have had a couple of spacey moments today, but the push to the finish line on the sweater kept me up this evening.

Gong she fat tsai!

So the crochet afghan will accompany us to the cabin for our anniversary retreat, and after that I have a big sewing project – some zippered and drawstring bags with a sheep print as gifts for the Year of the Sheep.

And finally, the two skeins of yarn I invested in at Michaels today…Loops & Threads Chunky in the Stonewashed colourway. Planning a little arm knitting for a gift.