So, here is what it is looking like right now, pre-skull motif.
Its all knitted up, all stitches grafted in the appropriate places.
When Mikey tried it on…it looked as though the neck was very awkward. It came up very high on his neck. I don’t quite get why because I followed the pattern and pattern errata exactly…which required me to frog back at times, because I hadn’t followed part of it right. I also made sure to take his measurements before starting on the project, so I know I knitted the correct size.
When I got to the neckline, I noticed the stitch count was off, although I checked my stitch count constantly and it even matched up in the parts of the pattern leading up to the neckline…so I’m thinking there is more errata there that hasn’t been discovered yet…either that or I missed something major…both possibilities are very realistic. Anyhow, when I reached this point, I decided to continue, but for the stitch count I had. I had two options there, continue on for the stitch count I had or add an extra row that would make me decrease the number of stitches in the front of the vest. I went with what made sense to me and I probably should have decreased in the first row to get the stitch count I needed. C’est la vie!
Right now, this vest is sitting on the kitchen table for a little bit, before I muster up the courage to frog the neckline and start over on it. I don’t like re-knitting stuff and really its not the re-knitting, its the re-grafting of the neckline facing. The first time, took a lot of patience and concentration and it took a fair amount of time to do since I’m not an expert at it yet. Don’t get me wrong, I love how the neckline facing looks all done and pretty, its just a lot of work to graft it down.
I have found Cotton Ease really easy to deal with. I wasn’t sure if I was sold on it when I bought it, but its working quite well. So its a nice, cheap alternative to other yarns you could use for this pattern.
In the meantime, I’m going to start on this doily pattern, because we need one for one of our side-tables in our living room. Its time for a side project…and I really don’t want to get started on the other Red Sox sock, cause the first one was really boring to knit.
