05-11-2021

Back Body:
To make the vest ~20” long - note that I’m making something between sizes 2 - 3 in terms of horizontal measurements.

• At my gauge on US8 needle (produces preferred fabric density in stockinette), I cast on 63st (R1 is RS) and work as pattern instructs for 130 rows in total, broken down as follows: 16R/2.5” rib 72R or 11.5” stockinette, 42R or 7.0” for the armscye (combo seed and stockinette for 28R followed by full seed stitch for 14R).

Update: It would appear that, despite swatching, my row gauge has changed - from 6.5R per inch to 6 rows per inch. So I ripped back some and blocked the back body to confirm the accuracy of the changed gauge… My horizontal gauge has also changed, if less so, from 4.5st to 4.25st per inch - I am less surprised by this because my post-blocked swatch was showing 17.5-18 st in 4”, and I opted to go with 18st vs 17.5st when doing the math. Numbers of rows above reflect this change…

Front Body:
To make the front vest the same proportionate length AND to make it the width of the size 3, given my different row gauge:

• I cast on 37st on US 10 needle, holding yarn double. (R1 is WS.)

• Work 86R in seed stitch (or 12.75”) per pattern instructions. (Update - opted to do 86R vs 89 to save a bit of yarn and because, based on how this fabric stretches horizontally, I think I can max vertical dimensions.) Note that some of these rows are to account for an extra 1.25” of length because the back body has been lengthened by ~2.5” and half of that should be absorbed by each side of the front body rectangle. I’ve opted to keep the garter section at the length stipulated for the size 3 (17.75”) because I am narrow in the shoulders and I need the length on the seed stitch panels for reasons noted above.)

• Starting on WS, work 123R in garter stitch (17.75” once blocked) per pattern instructions. Note that this is 61R on either side of the centre of the panel. So each half of the panel (aka one side of seed stitch plus half of the garter panel) should block to ~23”.

• Starting on RS, work 84R in seed stitch per pattern instructions.* Cast off.

294R worked altogether.

07-11-2021

Front: After making the seed stitch portion 1, I have 224g remaining (so that part took 84g)

I need more yarn because this yarn (despite being the same yardage per gram as the Adelaide I used last time) works up very differently. Waiting for a new 50g skein to arrive. I’ll work that with one strand of the current dye lot, on the double-stranded front piece, since ET did NOT have the same dye lot as my 150g skeins. The new dye lot was indistinguishable from the other - entirely consistent.

Yardage used:
Back piece - 80g (as anticipated)
Front piece - 267g
Total weight (recalculate after blocked and sewn): 347g

14-11-2021

FInal Thoughts

• This version used much more yarn to get to the same dimensions on paper. I know I have to trust my swatch but that didn’t work out perfectly with the vertical gauge of the stockinette back body. Given that both this and the Adelaide yarn are 123y/50g, somehow I needed to use 26g more on the front piece this time than I did on the front piece of the last version.
• Here’s hoping that the sizing works out in the end, I wouldn’t mind it slightly longer than the last one though, truly, I was hoping for a lighter garment. If this thing had sleeves, it would be a heavy sweater - I aim to stay in the 250g category for entire sweaters (though obviously not oversized ones and using light-weight yarn). Update: This version is longer than the other. I prefer the length of this one though it’s def heavier.
• The yarn also seems to bloom a lot more than the Adelaide did, though I’ll be able to confirm after this one dries. I think it could be knit on a larger needle to good effect. Thing is, I don’t like knitting with large needles.
• One other thing I have to say about the yarn is that it produced a preblocked fabric that is quite dense when knit in garter, double-stranded. It’s like it needs to relax by comparison with the Adelaide used in the first version. Also, the garter section is more horizontally compressed than the seed stitch portions, knit on the same needle size, the opposite of what happened with the first version.
• I really like this pattern. I find it ingenious in its simplicity and also very elegant - but in a strangely inornate way. It creates the most beautiful combinations of knitted stitches that all look lovely together and it shows the dimensionality of rectangles. It can be refined to pretty well any gauge/weight of yarn if you’re willing to do a bit of resizing.
• This version was much more challenging to seam - specifically at the neckline - and I really can’t say why. There was so much of the back body to ease into the garter collar that I’m worried that it might look puckered while being worn - and that it’s not as secure in terms of the strength of the join. It prob took 3 hours over 2 sessions to complete the seaming,