sophy's knits, notes, etc.

this was such a quick little knit and one that i finished a while ago. i even meant to write up a Vest-uary post for it, but i kept putting that off and then i was pretty sick for the past couple weeks... anyways, for anyone interested, here are my notes for knitting this vest.

tweed! stripes! vest! for baby! OMG.

Pattern Improvised/generic. [ravelry]
Yarn Rowan Yorkshire Tweed 4ply. 2 skeins #277, Gray (MC). 1.5 skeins #286 Green (CC).
Needles US 3 (3.25 mm) and US 1 (2.25 mm), 16 inch circular needles.
Finished Size newborn baby. 10 inches tall. 11 inches wide. you can see it blocking here.

pattern notes

i worked the front and back straight on US 3 circular needles, casting on 76 stitches and knitting a couple inches in 2×2 ribbing before switching to stockinette st. the stripe pattern began with 3 rows of MC, then repeated 3 rows of CC and 5 rows of MC.

circular needles i specifically used circular needles for this because my stripes are formed with odd-numbered rows. so the ending rows don't always fall on the same side. not a problem with circular needles, since you can push your stitches from one end to the other, depending on where the working end for your next color lies.

armhole decreases i repeated the stripe pattern to end with a CC stripe, then completed one row of MC. (i did this so that when i picked up stitches for the armbands, i didn't pick up in the CC row.) i bound off 5 stitches at the beginning of the next two rows, then decreased each end of the next 5 alternate rows. (because of the striping, the decreases were sometimes done on the WS...)

using some markers to help with short rows for the neckline.

neck shaping i didn't really take any notes when it came to the collar shaping, but i do remember leaving 14 stitches on each side for the shoulders. i used short rows to shape the neckline. the front neckline starts one repeat earlier than the back neckline.

button/hole tabs almost as an afterthought, i decided to add a buttonhole tab to the left shoulder. somehow i managed to decrease a stitch; luckily, it's not noticeable. afterwards, i unraveled the matching back shoulder and added an 8-stitch button tab.

collar and arm bands before doing the ribbing for the collar and arm bands, i grafted the shoulders together. of course, for the left shoulder, i grafted only so far as the button/hole tabs. (i decided to graft the seams together since this the shoulders were straight, no shaping.) the bands are simply 2×2 ribbing knit in the smaller needle size. For the collar band, i added a second buttonhole, aligned with the other buttonhole.

teeny tiny buttons i picked up at Stitches. the other buttons went onto tiny shoes...

oh yeah. because of the short rows shaping the neckline, when i picked up those stitches, i knitted them with the wraps. i slanted the stitches (k2tog versus ssk) depending on which side of the neck the stitches located. this created a very neatly curved collar.

finishing after the ribbing, i seamed the sides together. there were so many ends to weave in!

thoughts

i love that i was able to use old old stash yarn for this, though i will miss Rowan Yorkshire Tweed when i'm finished with the very last skein. of course, i have to apologize to my aunt for using yarn that's not machine washable, at least i don't think it is.

i felt like the finished vest was a little wider than i intended, but, newborn babies can get chubby pretty quick so maybe this is best. anyways, i've been really lame about actually mailing out the vest... must. do. this. tomorrow.

what do you think?