Finished: Deep V Argyle Vest

Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest by Eunny Yang
Yarn: "Filcolana Gotlandsk Pelsuld"
Colorway: purple and gold (215 and 164), the other colors are also great
Price: nearly 10 € for 100 g
Amount: 1 skein (100 g) of each color
Needles: 2.5 mm (for the tubular cast-on), 3 mm for the rest of the ribbing, 3.75 mm for the fair isle pattern (I think I should have gone up with the needle size though, the knitting is fairly tight)
Gauge: I was lazy and didn't swatch... (I know! I know who is reading this blog and I know what you want to say! :p) I think sometimes I do completely irrational things just to defy whatever higher entity is out there. And when I'm lucky, I feel special and think I have control over this chaotic process called life. When I'm not lucky, it becomes another unfinished project...
Dimensions: My size.
Modifications: I was really lazy with one, so I didn't really modify a lot and just hoped that it would turn out fine. Picked up 3 out of 4 stitches for the arm and neckline. 96 stitches total for each arm. The ribbing is in a different color, because there wasn’t much of the other one left and I didn’t want to start a new skein. I actually like that.
Comments:
I started this project twice before. Once with red and black yarn, then with white and blue yarn. The latter didn't have gauge, but I'm not sure, I also didn't really like the color combination when it was knit. My personal feeling is, you need colors with a high contrast, then it looks good. If the colors are too similar, the pattern blurs.

Eunny only explains in the instructions how to decrease, but not to increase. You can find the explanation on her blog though: http://www.eunnyjang.com/knit/2006/11/tips_tricks_and_treats.html

Tubular cast-on, 2x2 rib. Did k2, p, k2 instead of k4, p, k4. I used 2 mm needles for the four setup rows and then switched to 3 mm needles.

Techknitter’s method for joining in the round looks interesting, but it was too complicated with the tubular cast-on, so I just slipped the first stitch and knit it together with the last one, but still, I might use her method for other projects: http://techknitting.blogspot.com/2007/01/circular-knitting-3-in-1-techjoin_26.html
I held the gold color in the left hand and purple in the right. I think when the pattern color is much darker than the main color and the pattern is actually really dominating, then I should nevertheless switch the colors and hold the main color in the left hand and the pattern color in the right hand. The stitches I do with my right hand are much tighter than the stitches I get when continental knitting.

The pre-cut state:


Every time I read about people cutting steeks the first time, I feel bored with the descriptions of the angst and anxiety that these women go through. Since so many people have cut steeks before them, it shouldn't be such a great deal, right? Since cutting a steek didn't look like it would provide me with enough excitement and thrill, I decided to take it up a notch. Instead of cutting through the middle stitches and have 4.5 stitches left for the edge, I thought I should try to reduce the bulk and leave only 2.5 stitches for the edge. Being a smartass sometimes can be wonderful, but in this case, it was a bad idea. Things started to unravel and I had to come up with fancy knots and surprising ties to prevent my vest from becoming another unfinished project. Since I'm not totally stupid, I had tried this experiment on the backside of the neck where you only cut a couple of stitches which helped to keep the problem below catastrophy level. As you can see in the following pictures, the stitches at the neck are a bit loose, but well, I think the damage is under control.


2.5 was a bit low, but well, I thought 3.5 would be ok. So, for the rest of the neck and the armholes, I stuck to 3.5 stitches for the edge. I used some alpaca leftovers for crocheting the edge.





I think the vest fits better if you have a long torso, otherwise it’s a bit too long. The armholes also strike me as a bit too big. The width is ok above the waist, but below it’s a bit too tight. The steeks are a bit bulky. The pattern is pretty easy and it's a fast knit. If you have never done fair isle before then this would be a good first project.

Looks ok overall, but could use some improvement in some points. The yarn is a bit scratchy.