01-17-2018

Gauge swatch unblocked
US11 metal cubics=3 sts/inch, 4 rows/inch
US10.75 wood cubics
US10.5 metal cubics=3.25 sts/inch
US9 2x2 rib.

Swatch dried overnight.Yarn blooms and softens beautifully when washed. I mean it really blooms. See swatch photo. You can see the tail is washed and to the right of it, an unwashed working yarn. I thought it would be a sturdy yarn, but now I think it’s rather delicate. The knitted fabric feels good, so I’ll go with it.

Going to go with 10.5 needle. That section of the swatch is probably closer to 3.33 st/inch. However the 10.75 is more like 3.07 st/inch. I like the tighter fabric and over time, things do get stretched out, so I think it’s better to go with the tighter. Oh yeah, plus I have a tendency to loosen up as I knit.

I was considering 2x2 rib for the band, but then thought I wouldn’t like 2x2 rib on the armholes and V neck. So I’ll go with 1x1 rib.

edit: after finishing this project, please note, this yarn is pretty delicate. Even during weaving in ends, it broke a few times and I finished by using a crochet hook. Do not use it for seaming it will not hold up. However, I will probably use it again because I like the feel of it and the felty fabric. After washing, it lays down nicely in stockinette.

01-23-2018

Planning to add pockets. Targeting 4.5” (15 sts) wide at opening and 5” deep. Measured hubbies hand (because that’s the male hand I have available) and it is about that wide across the back of his hand between knuckles and thumb (maybe a little more). While I was measuring him, he talked about being able to put a phone in there. Hmm, makes sense. Hence the 5” depth. We’ll see how it looks when I knit.

I will make patch pockets after the sweater is knitted by picking up stitches for the bottom of the pocket, knitting, and then seaming on the pocket sides.

I thought about adding horizontal slit pockets, but I think that will add bulk to the inside and I don’t want that.

02-01-2018

So I’m a row away from separating the fronts/back and I am a few yards short of finishing my second skein. I’m pretty sure I’m not going to have enough yarn to finish the vest. I will probably have enough for the shoulders and back, but then there’s all that ribbing. According to the pattern, I should have 100 yards extra with 3 skeins, but now I’m thinking I will be short. Ugh!

If I am to believe the yarn label, I should have 600 yards from 3 skeins and pattern states 498 yards for size 46. I guess it’s a trip back to the yarn store and fingers crossed that they have the dye lot. Oh yeah and I wanted to add pockets! Definitely need to go back to the yarn store.

02-10-2018

I bound off the shoulders today. Have 11 grams of yarn left. So 289 grams (578 yards) or so to get a vest without ribbing.

Instead of K15 and then bind off until the last 15 on the back, I knit the sts that were supposed to be BO onto another cable to hold for later. I thought this made sense instead of BO and then have to pick up those stitches later. Still need to get another skein of yarn to do the ribbing.

Instead of working the back first, I worked the left front side as I had working yarn there, and would like as few ends to weave in as possible. Then I worked the right front. Last I worked the back. As I completed each back side, I 3 needle BO with the held sts from the fronts. This makes more sense to my way of thinking.

02-17-2018

Yarn store is out of stock. Ordered from Brooklyn Tweed today. Hope I can get it done in time.

Tried it on hubby as he’s the closest thing I have to Dad-sized. I think it will be good on Dad. I had easily 2.5-3 inches overlap on the two sides. Once I add the button band, there will be a little more ease.

03-02-2018

Took a week to get the yarn from BT. Different dye lot of course. When I hold the skein of yarn up to the knitted fabric of the first dye lot, it looks different. The knitted ribbing, looks okay however. Can’t tell the difference in most lighting. Your brain wants it to be the same, so unless your looking for it, it’s not that noticeable.

Finished knitting last night. Almost an entire skein (186 yards) more than the pattern states. Knitted piece is exactly 46” before washing.

Have decided not to do the pockets I was planning to add. I think pockets of a different dye lot on top of the knitted fabric might look too different.

I knit the button band and button hole band in one go. I didn’t understand the point of knitting them separately and then seaming it later. Why do that? I just knit as one continuous band up and around the back of the neck and it looks very nice and seamless. No puckers or bumps from seaming.

03-03-2018

So I washed it and let it dry, no pins. It grew a little bit to about 48 inches chest circumference. I tested it out on my husband and the shoulders are very wide at the top, even for a man. I patted down the edges so that they would lay down on his shoulders and not stick out and it looked better. Also, the arm hole kind of wings out in the back. I’m hoping on someone who fills it better, this will not be an issue. I’m hypothesizing that based on me, it looks much worse as I fill it even less. If I had known, I would have made the shoulders just a little bit narrower by decreasing a few sts. I did not knit much ribbing as I was concerned about this issue when trying it on my husband before I added the ribbing. I feel too far gone to rip it back and redo at this point. I haven’t put the buttons on yet. I’m not sure if I’ll give it or not at this point.

03-26-2018

I gave it to my Dad yesterday and it fit almost perfectly! Although I would prefer if the shoulders were a tad narrower. Everyone was impressed that I was able to judge his size without being able to measure and try it on him. My sister asked, “How did you do that?” I said, “Measuring eyes.” I joke that I have measuring eyes because I have the ability to look at something and know how many inches pretty accurately. Must be all the years of woodworking, sewing, and knitting.

Seriously though, my dad wears a large t-shirt somewhat snug. My husband wears a large t-shirt loosely. So I went for what I thought would be a mens large. I was able to try it on my husband and I know his measurements. That helped.