Res Completa: Deepish V Argyle Sweater

Pattern: Deep V Argyle Vest, by Eunny Jang
Size: 32
Yarn: Jo Sharp Classic DK Wool, 3 skeins of Silk, 4.5 skeins of Amethyst
Needles: US 4 circs
Start to Finish: August 24 - October 17, 2008

Mods: The deep V looks awesome on Eunny (and many others out there in blogland who have made this vest). But I knew that I didn't quite have enough up there to pull off such a plunging neckline, so I modded the V to start a bit higher (21 rounds higher to be exact), then increased the frequency of decreases (every 4 rows instead of every 5) to catch up. An unplanned mod came when I hit the right length of armhole before completing all of the V decreases -- therefore, I ended the vest about 15 rows before I was supposed to, making the shoulder straps wider than designed. This is one thing I don't love about the vest -- I feel like those straps are wide and bulky from the folded under steeks (see picture below) -- but my hair covers them when it's down, so no biggie. I also don't generally walk around with my hands on my hips, which helps.



The other modification I made was to cast on for the size 34, then do some extra decrease rounds to get down to the size 32 waist. This made the bottom a little wider and the vest longer in general, which is something I'm finding I need to do to most fitted garments to make them fit right (see also Snow White).

Notes: So I steeked this thing on an airplane. That was an adventure! The light was low, I was crammed in a tiny seat, and there was an "active" 2 year old sitting next to me -- making sure I cut the right stitches was more than a little nerve wracking and I was practically drenched in sweat when I was done. (Note: You can totally take scissors with blades shorter than 4" on a flight. I swear.)

I posted in the beginning of October about how I had run out of purple yarn and, my LYS having also run out, I had to order from elsewhere (a couple times). To my absolute delight, the new purple yarn, though being a completely different dye lot, was indistinguishable from the old. I can't even tell where the change occurred, so I am just going to put all of those nightmares about having to rip back and alternate rows with each dye lot out of my mind altogether.

With all the fair isling and modding and steeking and running out of yarn and picking up of stitches and sewing down of stitches and weaving in of ends, I did not feel like this was the "lazybones" pattern that Eunny originally meant it to be! But boy did it feel satisfying to finish. It was a lot of work, but well worth it to have this cool vest finally hanging in my closet!

ETA: Thank you all so much for the lovely comments about my Shalom Cardi! I have been blushing for days!