Progress thwarted...

I had made some good progress on the ribbed section for the back of Colchique. Then realized that I knit where I was supposed to purl and purled where I was supposed to knit. In other words, despite having translated the pattern correctly, I still read the chart wrong while doing the actual knitting. The piece has been frogged, the yarn re-wound, and the project put away for a later date.

In the sidebar you'll see that while Colchique is back to 0%, a new project has moved up to the top of the list: Brilliant Retro by Teva Durham from the Winter 2005 Interweave. I found a bunch of Patons Brilliant on clearance at the LYS recently and thought, what the heck? I do need another cardigan. There were two colors left, "Crystal Cream" and "Radiant Red." I really liked the red but opted for the cream instead because it is more wearable on an everyday basis.

I also got a bit of sock knitting done on a recent trip to the Bay Area. I'm trying get around to finishing them at home but it's been a little difficult. Sock knitting is usually travel/commute/transport knitting for me, but I won't be getting any of that for a while. Besides, the shininess of the Brilliant is hard to say "no" to.

FO: Deep V Argyle Vest...

Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Jang
Yarn: KnitPicks Merino Style in Moss (3.5 balls) and Nutmeg (2.5 balls)
Needles: US4/3.5mm (24"/60cm) Addi Turbos and US4/3.5mm (32"/80cm) Clover Bamboo circs
Time: ~2.5 weeks
Mods: Adjusted for row gauge difference; wider waist.

Notes:

This seemed to fly by fairly quickly. The Argyle pattern is easy to remember, and the pattern was well-written and detailed. I matched the stitch gauge but my row gauge was about four rows off, so I had to go over the chart and make the proper adjustments.

I knitted the smallest size knowing that the fit up top was most important for this vest. However, my waist is not nearly as narrow as the given measurements. I figured I may as well adjust the waist shaping to my own measurements while I was doing the math for the different row gauge. I'm glad I did this because the fit around the waist is still snug (but in a good way) with an additional two inches. If I had gone ahead with the given measurement...Well, let's just say it wouldn't have been pretty.

I did make a couple teeny mistakes. They didn't really affect the garment and were easy to work around. I accidentally picked up two extra stitches on the first armband I knit. Since it was only two stitches and not even noticeable, I just fixed the rib pattern under the arm by purling four over the side seam. I also cast-on 11 stitches instead of 9 when setting the front neck steek. I didn't notice this until I was almost done knitting the whole thing. I ended up just securing the relevent stitches of the steek were it 9 stitches wide and cut out the entire middle section I didn't need. I probably would have just left it alone and not done anything "fixing" except the extra fabric I had to fold inside would have been too wide.

The fabric is really thick and would have taken forever to dry so I cheated. My parents have a rack you can put in the dryer plus an air fluff (no heat) setting. In fact, now that I think about it, I think the rack is called a sweater rack. Anyway, after soaking the vest I reshaped to the proper dimensions, lay it on the sweater rack, and let the dryer do the work. Normally if I have pieces or lace I pin them out. If I have an entire garment, I just take advantage of the fancy dryer. ;)

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I just started on Colchique. I'm using some Rowan Felted Tweed from the stash that my mom got me. I'm a little concerned that the cables won't show up well in this yarn but it's not a big deal for me. I mostly just want to get the yarn out of my stash but I have no idea what else I'd make with it. I'd also been wanting to make Colchique for a while but it's never been enough of a priority for me to buy yarn for it.