Reviewing my Manly sweaters

What do ya know? These few days, I pulled out the 2 sweaters that I made for hubby previously.

This is the first sweater I did for hubby. It was from an old Filatura de Crosa magazine. My 3rd* knitting sweater since I began knitting.

His Zigzag sweater
This was a jinxed sweater. When knitting it, I cursed and sweared am in peace. Original pattern was a dropped stitch allover pattern. It turned out humongous...large enough for then boyfriend, now hubby to hide a chicken under. Then tore it all apart and re-knitted: too small. Eventually, we both decided that I should drop this pattern. Hence, this sweater was born. Zig-ziglar! It's simple knit/purl with charted zigzag all over. For something similar, see here.

I even had to knit extra inch of side seams before putting the front and back together. Fast forward 9 years, I see all the blunders and imperfections...
1. Uneven collar finishing
2. Over-picking of stitches around collar
3. Different dyelots!
-> This is the killer, makes me wanna cry! I didn't figure this one out until the 3rd time round and there is no f%&^#ing way that I would have ripped it all out again! Thank god I was working with linen so it did soften with the re-tries.

His Garter sweater
This next piece is from the Rowan magazine. On the male model it looks fabulous but I sure wasn't thinking when I knitted up the piece for now hubby. Of coz all the married women out there know that most men will start to grow their happy bellies after marriage. I do know now, of course. Perhaps garter side to side (i.e. vertical lines) would flatter him?

And of course, it is too hot for Singapore's weather. (Sigh) Why am I still knitting him more? I had a 3rd one made for him early this year while I was still in China. But have no access to it now as it's buried somewhere in one of the 12 cartons that moved in home with me to Singapore.

Now having seen my stash, hubby is courteously reminding me that I could perhaps knit with those "fine threads, you know those like 2-3 sewing threads put together" so that it can be worn suitably in Singapore's climate. Harlow darling, are you expecting me to knit 10 stitches to an inch with 1.5mm needles (which I don't have)? And cast on 500 stitches to start with? I think I will lie down for a while and knit that in my dream...

And NO, I didn't hear about the sweater curse when I first started out. Else I would have hesitated making one for him!

* First one was for myself which I eventually ripped. (The damn sleeves were 2 inches off each other! Talk about bad tension.) 2nd piece was a lacey one for Mum. Must remember to take a photo and post next time.