So this was the yarn I bought hoping it would be greenish and worsted weight (as the name Queenstown worsted implies) but when it arrived it was, in fact, more of a deep blue and definitely lighter than worsted weight so not really appropriate for the February Lady sweater I wanted to make. I was pretty disappointed but found other yarn that was perfect for that project, leaving me with 1400 yards of a lovely, hand dyed yarn in a color I didn’t much care for. What to do? Make something for the husband! He likes the color and picked out the Simple Vest pattern from Erika Knight’s Men’s Knits although it’s called Textured Vest here on Ravelry which is just a little bit baffling.

It seemed to me that it should be possible to make this up in the round but I’m not confident enough about bottom up construction to figure it out on my own so I am following the instructions like a good girl and making it in pieces to sew up. Grr…

And of course my yarn is the wrong weight. Of course. So I’m making the XXL on smaller needles and hoping it will come out to a men’s M-L. The good news? No need to make a gauge swatch as it wouldn’t help me anyway :-)

Day 2--what the heck--I’m going totally off pattern here. I decided to do it in the round, completely different gauge. I will refer to the pattern for ribbing, armholes, and other decorative touches but I’m pretty much on my own this time. Not the most comfortable place for me.

Day 5--so far I’ve made every possible mistake. Luckily the yarn is nice enough to handle all the frogging. I think I’ve finally settled on the right number to cast on (248) and the right needles #3/5.

Months and months later: I suppose winging it would have made sense if I’d actually knit a pullover vest before but of course I haven’t. So I’m learning a lot. There’s been a lot of frogging and readjusting but it’s nearly done. Any day now….

2/27/11--Hooray! Finally finished. What a production this was. I wish Ravelry allowed us to indicated “inspired by” because this is really not at all what was shown in Erika Knight’s book. Different gauge, different construction, different seaming. But, whatever, it’s done. Things were pretty ugly as I was joining the shoulders. I ended up doing a 3 needle bind off in 2 directions and really don’t recommend that technique at all. The armholes flared a bit but nothing a good old crochet chain couldn’t fix. It fits my fella really well, he loves it, and I’m free to begin more interesting projects so it’s good all around.