Sunday, June 11, 2006

Deep-V Vest happiness

After all of the knitting, steeking, new technique-stress, my vest is complete!


Pattern - Eunny's Deep-V Vest
Yarn - Rowanspun DK in mouse (1.8 balls) and sugar plum (1.1 balls)

This was a fun and challenging project. Eunny has written such a great, easy to follow pattern. I highly recommend it! The Rowanspun DK, which I bought from cucumberpatch, was a great yarn to use. It's not the strongest yarn, but after blocking it creates a nice fabric.


Pretty argyles.

The only mod I made was that my row gauge did not match the pattern, so I had to reduce the vest by 14 rows. I'm glad I did that or I think my armholes would have been too big.

The highlight of the pattern was definitely steeking. I just had to trust that the crochet would hold the cut ends together, and it did! Very cool.

I only had one problem with knitting the vest, and it's one that is totally all me! I've mentioned before that this was my first fair isle, and sometimes while knitting it, I felt it was going to be my last. I'm a thrower, and I tried holding one color in each hand and knitting more efficiently. But I couldn't do it. My left hand is just not used to holding the yarn. So I used my right hand to knit with both yarns, which really slowed me down. So I think my next fair isle will be one that has fairisle only around the yoke, maybe. Or I have to learn to knit continental.


My only mistake - can you see it?

My last comment about the vest is that it's very comfortable to wear. I was worried that it was going to be too small while I was knitting it, but I just had to trust that it would expand after blocking. And it did!

Now, on a totally different subject, Rob and I have been slightly obsessed with creating miniature effect photos. (Well, Rob does the photoshop magic and I sit next to him giving my two cents.) This is taking a real photo and making it look like it's a model. There was an entry on whipup about it, and here's a tutorial. So, for example, here's a photo we took in Arles from the amphitheater.


After waving his hands over the keyboard, Rob made the photo look like this:

Neat!

Here's one more of Le Corbusier's chapel at Ronchamp.

Rob likes doing these photos so much it may become a regular feature on the blog. Stay tuned!

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Both - the vest and Orangina - came out very well. Great job! Hopefully you'll get a lot of wear from the vest, and Orangina... well, that's a different story :).

Emily H. said...

Your deep V is gorgeous. It looks beautiful on you.

goodkarma said...

Wow, the vest turned out so well! It fits you perfectly and looks v. smart with that white blouse underneath. Yay!

The photos are brilliant. I love the almost saturated color in the chapel photo.

Anonymous said...

Awesome job on the vest! I hope you are extremely proud of yourself!

My first fair isle, I had to carry both yarns in my right hand and it was soooo slow. I practiced just knitting in the round with my left hand and after a few hours, it became really easy and on my second fair isle project, I am using both hands, so it can be done! You just have to practice. And it really does make things go faster.

Nettie said...

Your Deep V vest came out so great. Your shaping is percfectly matched to your body. I love it, and I can't see the mistake.

Jenna said...

It looks like it fits you very well! And your fair isle looks excellent, I would have never known it was your first time. I'm a thrower, too, and also had a little trouble holding one color in each hand at first. It's gotten much easier but I still find myself adjusting a lot. Anyway, bravo!

MinaG said...

Love the sweater!
And how funny, I must have seen the same posting on the miniaturizing photo technique, was it months ago? I've been meaning to try it but don't have appropriate photos. Those turned out awesome!!!

Anonymous said...

Awesome vest! I love teh colors you chose!

sarah said...

I love how your vest turned out! And those pictures are way too cool.

Anonymous said...

Nice job on the vest!

Those photos crack me up.

Anonymous said...

Wow, you have totally sold me on that vest, it turned out so cute!