Dandy

Readers, the vest is done.

This took me a really long time. I thought a sweater with no sleeves would be quick and easy, but I WAS WRONG. This vest is full of beautiful stitches and they really limited when I could work on it. But they are oh so beautiful. Check out this texture – don’t you just want to squish it?

Let’s do a short recap:

1. Yarn purchased at Longo Maï mill in Saint Chaffrey, France, 2015. (Such a fun outing with Nathalie!!)
2. Yarn dyed at my friend Annette’s house in September, 2016. (So fun to have friends with complementary fiber talents!)
3. Can’t quite get gauge and Boy 1’s chest is 5” smaller than the smallest pattern size, but cast on October 3 anyway.
4. Lose my mojo for complicated knitting after the election.
5. Learn that I can fix mis-crossed cables by doing cable surgery. Twice. Finish sweater back.
6. Start sweater front. Rip and reknit a bunch when I realize two skeins are very different colors.
7. Finish knitting the sweater front during a long car journey. Discover that I didn’t start the neck division soon enough, so the front is longer than the back. Rip and reknit part of front again.
8. Finish knitting front for real. Seam. Try on Boy 1. Heave a huge sign of relief that it seems to fit. Work neck band and armbands. Final bindoff on 1-8-17.
9. Order shirts that might look right with the vest.
10. PHOTO SHOOT! (Return one shirt.)

I had to think harder about this project than anything I’ve knitted in a while, and that’s a good thing. But I’m glad it’s done now! The final vest weighs only 218 grams, which means I have plenty of that French yarn left. (The skeins were about 100 g each and I bought 8…. 4 are still undyed.)

The pattern is Dr. G’s Memory Vest. I can guarantee you it’s one I will always remember. I hope he does, too.