Balthazar Vest

I finished the vest this morning before work. All I had to do was weave in a bunch of ends. I'll try to post a photo of me wearing the vest tomorrow. In reading reviews of Twinkle's Big City Knits, I was forewarned that the patterns had lots of mistakes that were not even addressed in the published errata. I didn't run across that many errors in the Best Friend Cardigan, but there were plenty of errors in this vest pattern. There is no real instruction regarding the eyelet detail aside from how to create the eyelets. There is also lack of instruction for the short row shaping on the cap sleeves. I was able to figure the knittng out, but not before I had to frog several times on the body and armholes. I would not recommend this pattern for a beginner.

Vested for Fall

So, I finished the vest yesterday afternoon. I made the smallest size, so it is a close fit, but not uncomfortably so. I did make it about two inches shorter in length and I opted not to add the belt loops since I thought I would probably wear it more without the belt. The only thing I don't like is how the yarn sheds so much.

I went to the Oregon Flock & Fiber Festival in Canby with Mariko and Hedi yesterday morning. It was really fun. I liked seeing all the animals, including sheep, llamas, and goats. I bought this purple Lynx sock yarn from Angora Valley Fibers for the Tyrolean Stockings, another pattern from the latest Interweave Knits. I'm making the socks a little bit larger because the yarn is supposed to full up a bit and result in a nice soft fabric.

Crafty Progress

I finished the front of the vest last night and pinned it for blocking. I'll start seaming as soon as it's dry and start on the armhole and neckline ribbing at a craft night I'm attending later this week. I feel like this project has been going on forever and I've even been working on it regularly! Maybe it's because I don't have any other simultaneous projects going on, so I feel like it should have been done faster. Whatever the case, it looks like it will be finished sometime during the upcoming weekend.

A couple of weeks ago I bought some Joel Dewberry woodgrain fabric in chocolate, but couldn't figure out what I wanted to make with it. A lightweight coat or blouse? I decided on a low-waist straight skirt. I traced my original skirt block and took three inches off the top of the waist, added one inch to the hem, and added a kick pleat to the back to come up with a low-waist skirt pattern.

Slow Going

Last night I managed to bind off for the armholes, so I'm that much closer to being done with the back. It must be the fine gauge of the yarn and the switching between two colors that's making this project go at such a slow pace. I do like how it's turning out though.

Sneak Peek

I wasn't sure how the tweed slip stitch pattern was going to look in this sweater, but it slowly started to take shape after I did about two repeats of it. I think I finally have the stitch pattern memorized too. The colors switch every two rows, so I'm just dropping one color and then picking up the next. I'm so glad there will be no weaving in of ends! I'm loving the grey and yellow color combination too.

Finally!

I had ordered yarn for the vest from two different online stores and just received the second batch of Garnstudio Alpaca yesterday. I'm using light grey as my main color and light butter as my contrasting color. I hope to be able to cast on for this project this weekend.