Why this journey?

I've been retired now for over a year. Husband has been sick but is now doing quite well with new pacemaker. I continue to knit and knit and crochet. Recently I became friends again with my sewing machine so you will see some of those projects, too. Thanks for reading.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

All is well in the Vest

The vest is finished, but not without a few "oh no's" and a lot of research.  I got about half way thru the hood and realized that there would not be enough yarn, especially since I also had to do some ribbing around the armholes.

Seems like the "Yikes" show up a lot in my story-telling.  This particular yikes didn't present itself with many options.  The yarn had come via mail and I surely did not want to risk a mis-match in color OR the wait while yet another skein arrived.

I ripped out the hood (called frogging, because of the groaner "rip it") and took another approach.  I needed to find some way to finish the neckline, something that would not require more yarn than the remaining bits I had in the yarn bowl.

Ribbing -- instead of a hood.

If you look closely at both right and left side of the neckline you won't see any ugly seams where I added the ribbing stitches.  I used something called double pick-up (no jokes, please!).  This method is explained in The Big Book of Knitting by Katharina Buss; an invaluable resource.  The effect is to hide the rough edges of the neck inside a band of knitting.  With this effect I won't have to worry when the neck falls to one side.  Keeps down the fussiness.

This close-up shows the finished ribbing on the neck.
It's also a good view of the cable.

The vest is warm and the color is wonderful.  I'm quite pleased to be able to add this one to my sweater collection and expect to be pulling it on quite often here in the wet Northwest.


All done.  All's well.  Nuff said.

1 comment:

  1. Beautiful! I think it looks great without a hood, and a bit more versatile I'm sure. I still really love the color and those cables are awesome. I wish you many warm and happy wearings of your newest addition.

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