Since May I’ve slowly been working on the test knit for the Painting Bricks sweater that was released by Stephen West today. I knew when I knit the shawl it would make a great sweater pattern and when he did a call for test knitters, I volunteered. The last month or so made it difficult to knit but I focused on the rainbow and how much I really wanted the sweater and I pushed through.
Honestly, I don’t know how I feel about much of anything right now but I do still love knitting. It has just taken me awhile to get into the rhythm but I’m slowly picking up projects I left sitting for a long time. What I’m able to make with my two hands makes me feel so accomplished and the fact that I can make a tiny version for Jellybean…well that’s the cherry on top of a hot fudge sundae.
For the sweater version, instead of the variegated rainbow I previously used on the shawl, for the main body color I went with a favorite neutral, McHale’s Navy by Miss Babs. It was also in the Yowza skeins and I knew since I was going to do a rainbow of color if I could minimize weaving in ends I should. You might also remember it from my Rainbow Tecumseh sweater. I narrowed down the rainbow color palette this time and really just tried to go for a more primary color based rainbow and I like the final results. You can check out all the colors I used on my Ravelry project page (and if you’re having issues viewing Ravelry they have instructions for switching it back to the old version on the homepage). I also created a version for my Animal Crossing character because I’ve been playing this video game way more than I’ve been knitting. It’s a very soothing escape and apparently I‘m not the only one who feels that way about it.
If you play the video game and want to get the custom code for the Painting Bricks sweater, here you go! I love seeing my villagers wearing it on my island.
Yards of Happiness 
Love your blog and your knitting. I hear you…
Oh wow the chihuahua! (I hope thats how you spell it). My heart just exploded! I love your sweaters!
Wow this sweater is GORGEOUS!! I love it. The texture and colors!! Both you and JB look fabulous.
Love it! Especially love the shawl! Thank you for sharing!
you are the best!! so glad you’re back to knitting — AC has gotten my grown daughter through a cancelled/postponed wedding. (They got married in AC on the cancelled date!) I don’t play, but have watched her play a bit, and met Blathers…..and I guess it is therapeutic. Go Jellybean!
I’ve seen you for years, jellybean Too, and my heart is smiling seeing you both with those amazing sweaters. That dog loves you so. Thank you for sharing your joy.
😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍😍LOVE IT, You and Jellybean are the sunshine 🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽🙌🏽
“I don’t know how I feel about much of anything right now but I do still love knitting“
I felt that part for real!! Love the sweaters!!!!
You look gorgeous in that fabulous sweater, Dana. I love your AC villager decked out too!
You and Jellybean look great! You have inspired me to use more bright colors and I finished a shawl in Lion Brand Anya uarn in Roy G Biv!
Oh my goodness ! I am once again in awe of your knitting- you show me why having too many projects in process just isnt as satisfying as a line of finished beauties!!
Dana what a beautiful sweater!! Thank you for sharing, and I am so glad you have been able to pick up the needles again. You bring so much joy to the world.
So glad to see this sweater! Did you alert the neckline to make it thicker? I love that you were able to create a sweater for JellyBean and your avatar in the game! I hope you are able to get your knitting mojo back soon. Is your college going to do in person classes this fall?
Absolutely stunning, as usual Dana. So glad to see your beautiful smile this AM!! I’ve missed you:)
And, i hear you . i hear you not sure how you feel about anything right now. My heart roots deeper into a hope i have never known the likes of for sake of justice and equality and the source of happiness being stabilized in our human world. It weighs heavy in me what i learn each day, of racial injustice. Ruth King is my teacher right now as i become mindful of race. I knit near you, Dana.
You rock, and Jellybean does too! I l LOVE LOVE LOVE the colorwork!
Wow. Just…wow. The colors are gorgeous. Thank you for your generosity, for sharing your talents and thoughts, for speaking out; I am so glad you are here. I’ve been struggling to create too, and knowing that you are there and pushing through and creating such beauty in these times helps me as well. Bless you and please give the lovely Jellybean a pat from me!
This reminds me of an afghan my grandma knitted years ago – in a bunch of colors. I think she called it “Bbbbles”. I don’t have it anymore to show you but maybe my daughter does…
The sweater is fantastic, I love how it looks in those colors! And thanks for making one for Animal Crossings – I can’t picture myself knitting something this complex but I can sure picture it on my AC character! (first time commenter, Hello!)
This sweater looks terrific! I love all of the colors. Thank you for sharing this with us.
I subscribe to this blog even though I don’t know how to knit (!) because I can still appreciate a thing of beauty! I love this sweater so much. If a stranger stops you on the street to ask where you bought this sweater and if I can buy one, too, it’s me!
For years in the 1990s, I subscribed to Vogue Knitting though I didn’t know how to knit. 🙂 I also love beautiful sweaters. About 10 years ago, I moved and there was a small yarn store nearby. It was time to learn! I took a couple lessons there and watched many instructional videos. I love that I can now make my own sweaters (though it took a few years of scarves and hats before I dared try a sweater). Maybe you will eventually pick up the needles too!
Great sweater! I have never played this game, but I love your creative world 🌎
Dana, your talent is amazing! The sweater is stunning!
You are amazing!
Those are some of the best knitting pictures ever! Amazing project(s).
What a happy surprise to open your blog and see the finished products. And your usual very satisfying choice of colors. Don’t know who is cooler, you or Jellybean. Does she appreciate all the extra attention she gets or is she the shy type? (You might have spoken to this aspect a while ago. Sorry, can’t remember:). I worry now that we might be losing you to Animal Crossing. I can understand it, but I am selfish so I hope not!
Exuberantly beautiful on both of you! I hear you—and it is time that we shout loud enough that everyone hears the message.
When I saw that Stephen had the sweater, I wondered if you would make it. Stunning on both of you!
You look great! Beautiful sweater for both you and Jellybean- enjoy!
I hear you. I feel such a connection to you though your knitting, your love of color, and your usually positive attitude. I know the world makes this last one harder right now, but know you have sisters of all colors and backgrounds who are here for you now and always.
Stunning doesn’t begin to describe that sweater.
So glad to see you in my mailbox, and then find your radiant smile and wonderific sweater! It makes me feel a bit of hope again. You and Ms. Jellybean have given me some strength for the journey. Peace be with you!
💐💜🌷
What a great sweater! You and jellybean look fantastic. Glad you are still able to knit right now. Thank you for the animal crossing pattern too, it is great!
Oh my!! I don’t know where to start! Beautiful sweater and it fits perfectly. Then it on to the adorable little dog sweater for Jellybean — too cute! But the best thing is somehow your avatar wearing that sweater, man I needed that today. So great!
All three are absolutely gorgeous!! Your choice of colours are perfect. You are so creative and talented, Dana! Thank you for sharing 😁
I’m so glad knitting is providing you some comfort again. Your sweaters are so beautiful, and you and Jellybean have such a wonderful loving bond!
I’ve been having a hard time knitting this summer too, for all the reasons. I recently bought some undyed yarn and some natural dye powders and I hope to try some dyeing soon. Maybe that will bring my knitting mojo back.
Hi Dana – how nice to see you and Jelly Bean, and wow! – what a beautiful sweater. Thanks for the much-needed ray of sunshine.
You are truly a knitting virtuoso!! I am a complete neophyte in comparison despite having learned to knit decades ago.
I can’t adequately express how deeply you have affected me since your statements at the beginning of June. As it was, I found myself struck by the brightness, warmth, and depth inherent in your eyes and smile that said to me that you are one of this life’s best souls. To see the picture you posted that day, to read the words you wrote humbled me greatly. I felt great sorrow for your pain and fear. I wish I knew you so I could learn from your wisdom for I now find myself seriously concerned about what I say and do for fear of being insulting or condescending without meaning to be. Ironically, I had been in a non-knitting funk before reading your post that day but for some reason it inspired me to pick up yarn and needles and make a prayer lapghan for a friend that I had put off doing. I am grateful that you have returned to the knitting that you do so incredibly, both in creativity and productivity, and that you are returning to blog about it. Somehow I feel that through this means you are reaching and teaching many of us about more than knitting but also about humanity. You are opening our eyes and encouraging us to be more aware of each other, to be kinder and fairer to each other. You have already affected change in thoughts and actions that are radiating outward like the ripples in a pond. Please continue to help us be better people. You are important to us.
Okay, time to pick up sticks again. My inner knitter has been missing for a while. I hope I can reconnect with her. Thanks.
And, of course, both of you look fabulous!
Always happy to see you and Jellybean. Your sweaters are gorgeous!
I feel like having your sweater on Animal Crossing is a whole new level of greatness. You and Jellybean look fantastic.
Dana, I’m new to blogging, and new to your site. I love your knitting projects and that you make sweaters for your little recue dog. I have four little rescue dogs and I make sweaters for the two pugs in the winter. They’re both black and so they, like your dog, show off sweaters well. I’ve been reading your previous blogs which reflect, I believe the current feelings of many people. I will share this story with you. I grew up in a tiny town in Northern California. I went to a one room school through the 8th grade. There were a few white kids, lots of Native American, Hispanic American, and African American kids. More than the white kids. People in my family were very inclusive for their generation. These kids all came over to my house after school to play in the orchard at whatever game was currently the rage. Then I went to public high school in town for the 9th grade. What a surprise. I had to take the bus. I sat with whoever had an empty seat. I lunched with my friends from my old school. I hung out with them at lunch time. Then people started calling me, and some of them names and throwing things at us. I honest to God didn’t understand what the problem was until a counselor explained it to me and told me I might want to make new friends. I didn’t. I was thirteen, but about 10 when it came to social interactions. My family was all teachers, so I was well educated and excelled in the classroom. However, my social interactions were stunted and it took me awhile to figure out what was going on. Even after I understood what prejudice was, it still didn’t make sense to me. When I was sixteen my aunties gave me my first car. I was allowed to drive it to town on the weekends to do shopping. One Saturday in 1963 I was on my way to town and I saw LC Johnson a black kid I’d gone to school with for years walking into town. I stopped and asked him if he wanted a ride. He hesitated and I coaxed and finally he accepted the ride. I parked in central downtown and we both ran our errands and came back to the car and I drove him home. When I got home my mother said she had received half a dozen phone calls asking her if she knew who her daughter was “out” with. No one in our neighborhood thought anything of it, but the mothers of some of the students at the high school who had seen us in town, were the ones who called me mother. I never have, and probably never will, understand prejudice of any kind. How does it hurt me or anyone if your skin is a different color? How does it hurt any of us if our sexual preferences are different? Why is it scary? It wouldn’t be if the people who were afraid got to know people who are different from themselves. But we would rather just lump them all together and hate them because I guess that’s easier? Until people understand and get behined the concept of inclusion as a way of life, we are going to be destined to continue to repeat history since we can’t seem to learn from it. I think of Margaret Mead’s comment that to “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” So now all our efforts need to go into these small groups and change our world starting with the communities we live in. It’s the only thing what will work. And, of course, keep knitting. Thank you, Susie Meier
You look beautiful in that amazing sweater and so does your little one. In the times of the most stress for me, when I had cancer, when my parents were very ill or slowly leaving this earth I could not knit. I did not understand why because knitting was such a comfort to me. But I just tried to let it be and know that the comfort of yarn was there for me when I needed it. I think it will be for you, there is so much going on these days, so much distress. Knit when you want to and enjoy it but don’t get frustrated if you can’t concentrate, it will come back to you with great gusto when you are ready. Enjoy your beautiful new sweater.
It’s wonderful, I’m just waiting to arrive. Just chugging along:).
Wow! I think this is my all-time favorite of all the sweaters you’ve knit. The colors are awesome. It is stunning on both of you.
I hope so much that real and lasting good comes from this time. Take care of your wee self— and the sweater is lovely.
Just love it 😍! You have nailed the colours totally.
Oh no, you did *not* knit a perfect matching sweater for JB! (JB is like, yeah, she did, get over it!) Stay safe and well.
Awesome sauce! The sweater 3 ways, human, avatar human and best of all Jelly Bean size. Thanks for sharing the love.❤️
Wow, that’s stunning! I admire your sweaters so much, but even more than that your warmth. Take care 💜
Just the ray of sunshine I needed to start my week! Y’all are beautiful and the sweaters are incredible!!