Saturday, January 26, 2008

FO: Cursed Argyle Vest


Pattern: Leftovers
Yarn:
Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton in graphite, drift, tomato, azul
Needles:
US 9/5.5mm, US 7/4.5mm

I am surprised at how well this turned out! I mean, I futzed with the sizing, didn't pay close attention to row gauge, kind of just winged it, and assumed that I wouldn't be happy with it because the cotton would lose its shape. But it fits perfectly. It does make me look like a boy, but that really only accentuates what-all I have to begin with... And I'm used to that, so I don't mind.

There are one or two things I would do differently, if I were to do this again. (which I actually might, I'm so impressed with how it turned out)

  1. I would follow the gauge and pattern. My mods turned out all right, but I have a feeling that when I wash this it will be way too small, but that when it stretches out again it will look "holey" and very hand-knit. The pictures don't show it, but it already looks a bit "see-through".
  2. I would do 3-needle bind-off at the tops of the shoulders. I kind of followed the pattern, best I could considering my stitch counts were different, but I didn't really get what was supposed to happen. And I was left with a rather messy and lumpy join at the shoulders, which also carried over to the ribbing. Also, I hate seaming and have little confidence in it my ability to seam securely, and a 3-needle bind-off is just much easier and tidier.
  3. I don't regret doing the argyle at all. I would do stripes next time, just so I wouldn't have to seam as much. There is a nice horror show on the back of woven-in ends just waiting to come loose and unravel my whole sweater.

My notes, pasted from Ravelry:

12/29/07 - Finally cast on for this. I cast on 144 stitches and only used one strand, and plan to use size 9 needles from start to finish. I’m following her first decrease row on the ribbing and then plan to continue the body just matching her gauge and sizing. Which is very adventurous of me.


Ribbing ended up being 4” and left me with 136 stitches. After 1” of stockinette I k2tog and ssk on each side to give me 132 stitches. And then again 2” later for 128 stitches.


I think I should shorten this since the cotton will probably stretch out, so I knit until the piece was 8 inches and then divided front and back. I’m doing the front first to get the 5 inches of argyle out of the way.


Finished the argyle, knit two rows and then followed the pattern’s arm & neck decreases. Hopefully my 1-stitch difference in row gauge won’t mess it up too much.

This pattern has really given my Graphite cotton stash what for. I have called it my cursed gray yarn because my stash of it seems unbustable. But I think I’m going to run out of it on the back, and I’m pretty sure I won’t have enough for the neck and arm ribbing…

Ran out of the graphite and bought another ball. I ended up doing the neck and arm ribbing on size 7 needles.