15-02-2019

OK - I don’t love this yarn as much as the J&S natural colour Shetland Supreme - which has a thicker gauge than the 2 ply used here. It’s more sport and the coloured J&S 2 ply jumper weight is a true fingering. The Shetland also has a modicum of recovery. The 2-ply is inelastic.

I def prefer the hand of the Shetland Supreme. Somehow the 2-ply feels loftier and less evenly spun. The colours are beautiful but this is as toothy as it gets and I can’t say I’m sold, as yet.

It did block very nicely, and I can see how it’s perfect for steeking. I’m going to hope that the end result doesn’t retain the puffy feeling of the swatch knit in the round.

(Note: I hate small diameter magic loop when doing fair isle - and using toothy yarn to boot - on small needles. So the swatch was a really tough sell. I really dislike the original pink and yellow swatch so I’ve gone in the completely opposite direction for my second attempt - a muted green/grey combo.)

25-02-2019

I’ve decided to just run with it and knit this using a US3 for rib and US4 for stranding. Based on my US3 swatch, I think this will work best - esp as this yarn has NO elasticity.

Remember Pattern Gauge is: In 1 inch - 6 st and 8R

I’ve also decided to do this colour scheme, which is reminiscent of the 4-colour suggestion in the instructions:

Colour A: Dark Grey (054)
Colour B: Light Grey (203)
Colour C: Light Sage (FC62)
Colour D: Teal (141)

Hopefully the volumes of these colours will work nicely together cuz I’ve bought the yarn and I’ve spent as much time thinking about the colour scheme as I’m inclined to.

25-02-2019

Pattern calls for 20 R of twisted rib in smaller needle - I estimate Kate D was looking for 2 inches or scant 2.5 inches as the gauge reflects the larger needle.

Then begin the chart - in larger needle till you get to the waist section and decrease to smaller needle size to give a bit of shaping to the vest.

28-02-2019

My assumption is that, on US 4, I’m going to get post-blocked gauge of 6st and 8R per inch.

Size 3 of pattern calls for arm steeks at 14.5” from hem cast on. Given my own relevant vertical dimensions, 13.5” is my preferred length to underarms, given my height and vertical proportions. At 8” from bottom cast on (that being 2” of rib and 42 rows of pattern repeat - or let’s call that 1 full repeat) begin waist shaping. Don’t forget to switch to US3 needle (smaller gauge one). Do 2 inches i.e. 15 rows of the next repeat with the smaller needle recognizing that the gauge will be 15R in 2 inches…

That’ll put you at 10 inches from the cast on edge and 1.3 pattern repeats plus rib. Go back to larger needle size (which you’ll return to after the 15R of waist shaping). You need 3.5 more inches at larger gauge or 28R more to get to underarm steeks, which will take you up to the end of the second repeat! Love it when math works out in a straight-forward manner!

06-03-2019

A couple of things to report so far:

• I had an issue with the tubular cast on (using provisional crochet chain). It worked fine but I was worried it wouldn’t because it was really tight until I removed the crochet string and then there was a lot of slack (loops) where the cast on met the crochet chain. I pulled on the slack and I got about 25” of yarn (in a loop). The cast on is lovely though - no issues with the tension. So, after blocking, I’m going to keep the loop whole and weave it into the rib and then up into the body of the fair isle in 2 sep strands. See below for how this worked out…
• Keep your markers in the work because, if you make a mistake with your positioning of the steek bind off/cast on stitches (even by 1 stitch), it’ll take you forever to figure out where the pattern repeats should be once you’ve started your armscye decreases.
• If this will work for your gauge, start the steeking on the second last or last row of the chart (rows 43 or 44). Then you’ll get the steeking rows and armsyce decrease rows finished by the time you get to row 11 of the chart (which is where the pattern becomes more complicated).

08-03-2019

I’ve opted to do the v-neck, Lord help me. I think it’s a bit more challenging than the crew, but having not done the crew, I could be wrong.

At the point when I start the neck shaping, I’ve finished armhole decrease section and I’ve decided (as this is above the bust) to go back to the US 3 needle for better gauge given that this is where I’m narrowest and shortest (and arguably could go to the 1st size).

As of the end of the armscye shaping section I’ve knitted 1.75” depth from the beginning of the armscye (at the start of the steek).

Pattern size 3 calls for an 9 inch deep armscye but that’s too deep for me. I’m going to make it a 7” - 7.5 armscye.

This means, on US 3 needle, given that I have 19 neck shaping / decrease rows altogether (or 38 rows given that one is worked plain between decrease rows), I should be at 4.25” from base of the armhole - 1.75” (from armscye shaping) and then 2.5” (the 38 rows of neck shaping at the gauge on US 3). You need to knit another 2.75” before you get to 7” - 7.5” underarm depth or, by my estimation, 41 - 48 additional rows. I’ll decide when I see how it looks at 41 rows (remember I stupidly blocked the original fabric before taking initial measurements so this is going to be a bit of a crap shoot).

See the chart in your red Leuchtturm book for info about where the stitches sit between the markers - so that you don’t loose track of how to maintain the pattern. This also shows which row you’re working at any given time in the chart at the same time as showing the decreases and what that means for every other row…

Before Steeking: Basted around the outside of the 7 steek stitches to make sure I didn’t lose track. Also, in the red book, modified the pics that Kate Davies shows here: https://katedaviesdesigns.com/2012/04/29/steeks-2-reinfor..., to show how that’s modified slightly for a 7-stitch version.

12-03-2019

Post-knitting of body, pre-knitting of rib edges / pre-blocked: OK, steeks have been cut and it seems ok - though having never done this before, I feel there’s room for improvement. Current thoughts:

• The crochet chain (pretty floppy at the moment) but I’m optimistic that blocking will improve this.
• I’m concerned that the 3st steek is going to be a bit bulky (given the puff factor of this yarn). Perhaps pressing will take care of it (after everything is seamed and complete. Other option - I could move the steeks in a stitch but I don’t know if that would be destined to fail given the shortness of the cut yarn. I’ll likely keep it this way for this garment and work around it.
• Tried it on and the fit is amazing (even pre-blocking). I made the armscye 7” deep (which happened right at the end of the vneck so that was easy). Body to armscye is 14.5” but I can block it a bit longer (or let it shorten) depending on how I decide I’d like the final fit to be.
• I don’t know if it’s destined that the row missing the splash colour (first instance, where I forgot) is going to get it in the end. My duplicate stitch skills are not legendary and there’s so much furry heathering happening with this yarn (and also given that 2 colours are similar) that I can’t see the straight line. I’ll give it another go after blocking but, if that doesn’t work, I’m calling it a design feature.

13-03-2019

In an outrageous turn, my tubular cast on (with 25 inches of extra thread, all enclosed i.e. one piece with the rib) broke right at the stitch (so NOTHING even to spit splice it to a longer piece of yarn for weave in purposes). This happened as I wove in my last (of 1000 ends). OMG. I’m hoping that it will felt adequately when wet blocked. I also did some fancy foot work at that part of the cast on, weaving bits of yarn in the same colour, up and down the rib knits - and into the base of the tubular stitch. Oh man, may this work or I have wasted 2 months…

Final, pre-blocked measurements:

Arm depth: Once I added the ribbing, this went back to 6.25” but it’s good for me (my armscye depth is super short)

Full length: 20.5”

V neck depth: 4.75” (from rib cast off at the v to rib cast off at back neck). I’d start this lower, were I to make it again - like when the underarm decreases start (though what a mess that would be to sort out all at the same time). Because my armscye is so short, I put the shoulders in the first row after the vneck decreases. This means it’s a pretty short v. But I’m not nuts about super low necklines and I’ll be wearing this with a shirt underneath. The proportions work pretty well, given the really high underarm I’ve got going on.

Underarm to cast on hem: Measured to the top of the underarm rib edging.

Full Bust circumference: 34” technically this is 2” of negative ease but I’m ok with that. It fits firmly.

Hip / Hem circumference:32” It’s at the high hip so it works fine…

Note that I used the US 3 at cast on rib, switched to US4 after rib, stayed with 4 until I got to the waist section, went back to US3. After waist 2 inches, went back to US4 for the bust portion of the vest (the part I am most concerned about getting fit right), then after the full bust, used US3 until bound off the body. Then used US2 to do the ribbing at the armscye and v neck. So there was a lot of tempering happening to make the fit as good as possible and it’s AWESOME. Lord, I do hope the cast on holds. That has NEVER happened to me before…

13-03-2019

Some thoughts:

• This pattern is really well written, and brief.
• I’m not a regular fair isle knitter, but I did find this pretty challenging at times. Maintaining pattern in the decrease section was not the easiest thing I’ve ever done.
• The steeks are quite thick in the J&S fingering (can’t imagine how thick they would be if knit in DK…). I’m going to steam them and then maybe use my presser (with a cloth between them). They hold up beautifully, even pre-blocking (and worked at hard while I was picking up stitches along the crochet steek). Next time, I’d split the yarn - or use lace-weight - to crochet for a thinner chain/less bulk.
• Were I to make this again - and any time I opt to do fair isle work again - I’d only use 5 stitches to create the steek (not 7). I feel that’s enough to hem the seam allowance (steek) and it will cut down on bulk. Also, I feel smaller seam allowances, within reason, are easier to seam because they move with the shape of the opening.