Well, March is almost over and I figured I might as well squeeze in an FO before the month ends. It’s the deep argyle vest designed by Eunny, only this time in Rowanspun DK Eau de Nil and Snowball. Since you’ve seen the progress shots of the previous test piece that I knit, this time I’ll just jump straight to the finished product.



Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest (34″ size) by Eunny
Materials: Sz 4 needles, Rowanspun DK 2 hanks plus a smidge of Eau de Nil, and 1.5 of Snowball
Notes: Truth be told, my row gauge was a bit off and I didn’t come to realize that until I started knitting the V neck. Thankfully I had enough time to recalculate the armhole decreases or else I’d be wearing a floppy/terribly long vest now. Although my st gauge was tighter than Eunny’s, I figured the yarn should expand a little when I block it and then I’d be ok. And I was right. It fits me nicely and I think this will be my outfit tomorrow. Yarnwise, Rowanspun DK definitely was thick’n'thin in some places but the resulting fabric bloomed after the rinse and it has a semi-felted feel to it. It does snap easily if you tug a little harder than usual, but I didn’t experience any yarn breakage while knitting. I don’t see spring-time coming to LA anytime soon and so I may get a few wears out of this yet.
Oh yea, some of the pictures came out a bit fuzzy. Uh, yea. Maybe I should lay off the caffeine. Other than the vest I really haven’t been knitting that much recently. Busy with dissertation, and also a bit uninspired. That doesn’t mean I haven’t been keeping up with you all fabulous knitters’ works. Maybe it’s the blasted weather in L.A., but I need my 70 degree weather NOW ALREADY. Hmph.

A few of you have asked me what yarn I’m using for the real vest that I’ll be knitting for myself, and I finally made a choice- Rowanspun DK. Now I’ve heard mixed reviews for this yarn, but I’m strangely drawn to the tweediness. Terhi loves this yarn, and waxes poetic about it…. so why not? In the end, I went with Eau de Nil - the blue green, and Snowflake - creamy white. In other news, I won a contest! Ann of Fidget held a contest to guess the most popular color and yardage of her stash and I guess I lucked out. She sent me two skeins of Koigu KPPPM (p219) and I’ve been fondling it ever since. What will I do with them? Pomatomus, of course. Thanks, Ann!

It’s done, sewn in and blocked out. And it’s small.. and I knew that. The swatch started as a foray into fairisle practice, then slowly made its way to a steeking practice. I didn’t have the right yarn for it, so I picked up a few balls of fingering weight Knitpick’s Palette yarn just so I could play with it. I made it in the 34″ size too… since I want to experience the whole she-bang once… figure out what I can do better if I had the actual DK weight yarn.. and where I should pay particular attention to.
Initially, I only wanted to show you this.

But I got carried away and stuffed myself into this too-small too-tight cut-off-my-circulation vest just for kicks… (yea I need to pay attention to picking up stitches.. see where it’s wonky and holey? That’s not gonna happen when I have my real yarn)
The giant practice piece here is better suited for a 32″ bust.. if you use fingering weight yarn and sz 3 needles like I did. My next piece is so going to ROCK!

Edit: Silly me.. totally forgot the most important part. I followed Eunny’s directions to the tee… her diagrams and instructions were very well-written and made this an easy knit. Can you knit and purl? Then you can knit fairisle! Eunny, thanks for the explicit instructions and impeccable pattern.

Ahh..the moment of truth..will it unravel? Hey…so far so good!
Is this the largest practice swatch you’ve ever seen or what?

Ever since Eunny published her Deep Argyle Vest pattern, I’ve been itching to try it out. But the search for suitable yarn has so far been unfruitful…should I go with Dale of Norway Heilo? Or Rowanspun DK? Briggs and Little Regal? Ah… choices. So while I wait to make a decision.. I decided to just knit a practice swatch with whatever I have.. you know.. just to see what it’s like..

Knit knit knit.. ah.. crap.. I’m knitting too tightly.. I need to loosen up my tension…
Knit knit knit.. ooh.. check out that argyle pattern…
Knit knit knit.. Oi.. I have gone this far.. might as well go all the way..
Knit knit knit.. yea.. I should totally practice steeking on this while I’m at it…Yea..this thing definitely won’t fit me when I’m through with it.. but who cares? I knit for fun. And this sure is fun.. and when I finally decide on a suitable yarn, you can be sure that I will have gotten the steeking down pat. Oh.. the yarn is KnitPick’s Palette by the way, in Blush and Fog. Sz 3 needles.. Photos taken under natural light.