Studious

After much procrastinating, the Back-to-School U-Neck Vest is complete! Woohoo, another wool sweater for scorching summer weather!



The Specs

Yarn: Cascade 220, in a russet-brown heather, under 3 skeins used for the 38" size
Pattern: Back-to-School U-Neck Vest, from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits
Needles: US7
Lessons Learned: The shaping created by the front darts is quite nice. I also *love* the look of the waffle stitch. But most importantly, I realized that I can't fully judge a project until all the design elements are in place. I put off the neck and arm edgings for weeks, because I thought the vest was looking silly on me. But once I buckled down and added on the edgings, it looked, well, complete. Brilliant insight, eh? :P I could have picked up more stitches around the neckline, but I'm happy with it as is.

ETA: I forgot to mention that the book's instructions for the dart increases (RLI and LLI) are really confusing, and are not even included with the vest! I came across them in the Alexandra pattern. Instead, I followed the instructions for "Raised (M1) Increases" from the glossary of the Summer 2006 IK -- same move, just described (and pictured) much more clearly.

Wicked!

I finished this sweater just in time to wear for Easter Sunday, and yes, I did question whether that was appropriate, given the pattern's name. :P



The details...

Pattern: Wicked, by Zephyr Style
Yarn: Cascade 220, color 9407 (celery - about 3 1/2 skeins)
Needles: US 8
Time: Errr, off and on, over 3 or 4 weeks?

My gauge was small on both 7s and 8s, so I decided to go up a size and hope that move would work out. I probably could have done fewer raglan increases, but I'm still pleased with the fit (I wanted something comfy, not super-snug). For the pocket, I picked up stitches on the body and began knitting it from there, and not as it's own separate piece. I think this created a nice even line across the top of the pocket. I also did the bottom in the cross-over rib, as seed stitches takes me an eternity.

And while I'm here, here's my progress on the Back-to-School vest from Fitted Knits (love this book!):