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.

Paths and Choices

It's really hard to think about life in a completed way.  Life is always journeying, moving us along its path, presenting choices for us to make at every step.  If you've been reading this blog for any length of time at all you know that I take the perspective that knitting and life intersect in so many ways, not just at the times when the needles are clacking.

I picked up the blocked pieces of the vest, intending to join the shoulders using a 3-needle bind off.  (There are lots of ads around this one, but the voice is nice and pictures are at a good distance for really learning.)

Charged down the 3-needle path, short DPN's in hand.  Nope -- not a good choice.  I decided not to take this path.  Thus, I needed to backtrack and make a real and regular sewed seam.  So that meant I needed to bind off each of the four shoulders -- 2 front and 2 back.

Love those DPN's for binding off short distances.  The
shorter needle is not in the way and doesn't poke at the
already-knit portions of the piece.

The cable pattern runs right up thru the middle of the shoulder, both front and back.  3-needle bind-off doesn't easily accommodate to patterned stitches -- though if a reader has hints I'd sure love to hear them.  This method seems to work best on just knit or just purl stitches.

Now that the edges are ready to seam, I've joined the front to the back using a mattress seaming technique. These gals from Knit Picks are fun to watch if you wanna learn the Mattress Seam.

Left shoulder seam.  The left front is on the right of the
picture.  Confused yet?  

The hood is about half way to the finish line.  It has lots of shaping, including some shaping in the middle so it will pull in at center back and not be bulky.   

The ribbing edge will be around the face when the hood
is worn.

Paths and choices -- Life and Knitting.  Happens every day, all the time.  Relish the mystery.

Got shape?

Blocking a sweater can feel like "just another step when I'm so close to the end."  Blocking, however intimidating or time-consuming, is essential.

See what I mean?

On the left -- back, armhole, blocked, shape!
On the right -- left front, armhole, shapeless!

If you look closely you'll see that the edges of the unblocked piece are curled under and the curved edge of the armhole is sloppy looking.  Blocking delivers this chaos from its misery into order and shape -- factors that make the assembly easier and neater, and lend polish to the final garment.

The cable is also much more visible with each of the elements showing face.

Blocked -- take my word for it.

Right front will be finished tonight and on the blocking board.  One more skein of yarn is set aside for the hood.

Hank to Hoodie -- I'll wind it with my swift and winder
and then cast on for the hood, which is stockinette (knit
one row, purl one row) with a bit of shaping and some ribbing.

I wish my camera skills were better -- the color of this yarn is so rich and wonderful.  Here's a link, just in case you wanna see how Lion Brand shows the color on their site.  Lion Brand LB Collection Organic Wool.

Please check out Lesley Reynold's intriguing and fun site.  She uses a technique she calls "Shower Thoughts" to quickly alert you to the 4-6 things on her agenda for the day.  It's fun and clever.  She also has a poll going:  she'll be knitting a hat and she's letting her readers choose the pattern.  Again, interesting way to engage readers.  My Ordinary Journey.

Life's ordinary journey often takes us to extraordinary people and places.  My journey today has taken me to Crossfit and Safeway, perhaps 'ordinary' but Emily the trainer is fun and skilled and Denise at Safeway made me laugh.  Extraordinary!

Vested Interest

The teal vest is shaping up nicely.  I've put the back onto the blocking board, sprayed it down with cool water and given it several shots of steam.  Meanwhile the fronts are making their way to neck shaping.

Side by side, both on a long circular needle, the left and
right front of the vest have armholes now.

After all the armhole shaping, I'll knit for a bit and then work on shaping the neck.  Hope to have these two pieces on the blocking board this week.

The back will take a few days to dry, but no pressure so will leave it alone.  I've inserted US9 DPN's to hold the shoulder stitches.  After I block the fronts I'll use a 3-needle bind-off to join the shoulders.  If you haven't tried this yet, find a YouTube or tutorial.  Makes for nice smooth seams.

Schematic to the left -- the diagram that gives all the
measurements so I can block to the size I knitted.  At
the top you can see the wooden DPN holding the shoulder
stitches.

The little kitten has her nose in everything.  Here's a close-up of the cable.

While the fronts are on the blocking board, I'll finish the hood.  Soon I will have a new vest!  And in one of my favorite colors.

Worked a bit on one of the garter stitch (knit every row, no purls) squares for the mystery KAL afghan.  When I reached what I thought was the end of the square I counted stitches and wouldn't you know, not the correct number.  Had to rip it (frog) back to the correct count.

Blame it on Downton Abbey.

The Vest of the Story . . .

. . . with apologies to Paul Harvey, a great newscaster.

Finally put the yarn and needles together for the dark teal vest.  LB Collection Organic Wool from Lion Brand.  It's a bit chunkier than worsted so I'm using US9 needles; the gauge worked out right per the pattern, so it's all good.

Big complex cables on the front and back.  Hoping you
can see that the big cable is encasing a smaller cable.

This is one of those patterns that demands even knitting tension and the cables are unforgiving, mistake-wise.  So I put all three pieces of the vest -- two fronts, left and right, and the back -- all on one long circular needle.  This means that each piece will be knit under the same conditions -- my stress level, the weather, the amount of moisture in the air -- and by knitting all pieces at once I have greatly increased the probability that the end product will appear (and BE) uniform.

You're looking at the two fronts as they will meet
when the garment is worn.  In the back, in the shadows is
the back of the vest (wrong side as you are viewing it.)

The cables are wonderful.  They are chunky and have several crossing areas within other crossing areas.  The chart is in the pattern, also from Lion Brand, Cabled Teal Vest, though of course there are other colors.  Finished garment will also have a hood.  I may try to find a pewter clasp (called a frog) to join the fronts when it's worn, but the pattern is designed to be worn open.

Here's a close-up of the cable.  Love it.

This shows two of the three chunky cables that will
snake there way up the back of the vest.

The Vest of my story is that this project is moving along nicely.  The additional not-to-be-ignored truth is that once again I have too many projects on my needles.

I am -- after all -- a knitter.  I am Vest-ed in keeping my needles busy.