Ravelympics Finish Line!

Otherwise known as, "The Crazypants Ideas Just Keep Coming."

Pattern: Ivy League Vest by Eunny Jang
Yarn: Knit Pick Palette in the Violets colorway taken directly from here.
Needles: US 1 and 3
Modifications: I made a rounded neckline by starting the shaping about 1.5" after the armholes. I didn't take exact notes, but I did something like: round 1: decrease 4 each end (k4tog and ssssk), round 2: decrease 3 each end (k3tog, sssk), round 3: decrease 2 each end (k2tog, ssk), decreasing 2 each end every other row until the shoulder stitch count matched the back. I also added about 4 inches of length.

Soaking up the sun

So, the steeks weren't that scary. I did a machine steek, lining up a "leg" of the foot of my sewing machine with the two center steek stitches and zigzagged away on each side. I just cut everything without allowing myself to think about it first and it all worked out in the end. Right after, when the edges started unraveling I had a panic moment, but they stopped unraveling at the machine stitches, which is what counts. Either way, don't try to do this with Palette unreinforced. Though it's wool, it's pretty slippery.

I think I mentioned that I've had a lot of time off work lately. I doubt that I would have been able to finish without the extra time. I have to say, when I was knitting this, I wasn't in love with it. I was worried about the fit, and the corrugated ribbing was taking forever, and it turns out that I don't like to knit under a deadline. I was really ready to be done with it, and had to buckle down to get through the edgings, but now that it's done, I couldn't be happier. Blocking lace is the most tranformative knitting moment, but I have to say that blocking colorwork runs a close second. The fit on this is really great, but it should be noted that the corroguated ribbing does not stretch like regular ribbing. In fact, it doesn't really stretch at all.

I don't think that this will get much wear for the rest of the season - things are beginning to warm up (though you might not guess it from the 15" of snow I had to tramp through to get these shots). This is incredibly clear when you walk into some of the superheated classrooms I've been in lately. Today's classroom was at least 80F. But I'm so pleased with my work that I might just hang the vest up on a wall to look at. It's so pretty!