A Last Hurrah!
Hope everyone has been having a good holiday season! These past two weeks have been crazy busy, way busier than my normal semester is. Between a busload of guests, two birthdays, a wedding anniversary and a major holiday, I am grateful for all the red wine and sugar to have come my way. I have hardly had any time to sit and knit, but you know how it is - a row here, a row there, and suddenly, you have a finished creation, just in time to wrap up a year’s knitting. Here’s the “Back-to-School Vest”:
I am not into the whole speed knitting thing, but this one was super-quick even for me. Took the total of five-six days’ knitting time. Apart from some clever but simple shaping, it is mindless, productive knitting. To say nothing of the fact that it took less than $25 to make.
Project Specs:
Pattern: “Back-to-School Vest” from Stefanie Japel’s “Fitted Knits”, size 39 inches
Needles: Size 7 bamboo
Gauge: 19 st to 4 inches in waffle stitch
Yarn: Cascade 220
Seriously, Cascade 220 is wonderful. This shade is a silvery-grey heather flecked with maroon, and matched exactly the kind of colour I was looking for to wear with the dark shirts I have. It took just under 3 skeins.
Notes: For all the loveliness of the yarn and pattern, I am, quite honestly, not as taken with the FO as I should be. It fits okay, but tends to ride up a bit. The next size up (41″) would have made it too baggy, though. I’m hoping that a decent blocking, or just plain wear should settle it down a bit. But for all its shapeliness and darts, this empire waist thing places a bit too much emphasis where it perhaps ought not to, and I don’t know if I care for the roundish neckline. Also, I made it mainly to wear to teach and be comfortable in the slightly cold classrooms. But when I wore it yesterday, I found myself doing what devoted Star Trekkers would recognize as the famous “Picard Pull” or the “Picard Manoeuvre”: straightening one’s uniform every few seconds like the hot and gorgeous Capt. Jean-luc Picard does on the Starship Enterprise. It’s okay when resisting the Borg, but I imagine in class it will annoy me to hell. Am not sure yet if I’ll rip or wear it a bit more and see. But it is very comfy and warm. Incidentally, if you make the vest, do be sure to check the errata for the pattern.
Ah well. I will leave you some mist, redwoods, and sunlight. Enjoy the rest of the holidays, dear readers, and see y’all in the new year!
