So I've got this brother. He actually came first so I suppose it's more accurate to say he's got me. At any rate, his birthday was last month, the day before his wedding to be exact. Since there was all kinds of wedding stuff going on I didn't get a chance to make him anything for his birthday and I didn't want to just buy him something off their registry and call it a birthday gift. Instead I wrote him a card saying I would make anything he wanted for his birthday, hat, gloves, a sweater if he would wear it, etc. I have told my whole family I will make them sweaters if I thought they would wear them, most of them concede that they would not, in fact, wear a fabulous handknit sweater. My brother, much to my dismay (and secret pleasure) does not fall into this category.

He comes up to me the other day and says he's been thinking about what he wants me to make him, and he will wear a pullover sweater. Maybe Norwegian, or perhaps like the one I made myself last winter.

Now I love my sweater and I wear it all the time. My brother and I, however, are different people. Our entire childhood together and the boy only wore blue, generally navy blue. It is his fault that I don't like the color blue to this day. Navy Blue Boy says to me he wants a sweater like mine.

My jaw almost hit the floor. I stipulated in my offer that I wouldn't knit him anything blue, but I thought for sure he would choose something plain and dark red instead. Maybe a hat, perhaps another pair of socks. Never did I imagine that my brother who so religiously wore Navy blue until well after he moved out of the house would want a Fair Isle sweater like mine. I told him he can't have my sweater, but I will knit him a sweater similar to mine. I'm sure I will live to regret this offer, mostly because my brother is 6'3" and all his height is in his torso.

I'm still coming to terms with the fact that my brother, Patron Saint of Navy Blue, wants a brightly colored Fair Isle sweater, but I did say I would make him whatever he wanted for his birthday. Then he has the gall to say that the socks I made him for Christmas are a little too brown.

I made him faux Fair Isle socks using this in cocoa, and knit picks simple stripes in the Crayon colorway (apparently this has been discontinued). I was all worried he wouldn't wear them because they had too many colors and he thinks they are too brown. When did my brother shed the navy blue and realize there are others colors in the world? The upside is that if my brother, Grand Poomba of the Sacred Order of Navy Blue, can think the socks I made him are a little too brown there truly is a chance for world peace.