Compare and Contrast

 
I finally competed all the finishing work on the vest portion of the  Compare and Contrast sweater set. 

This is a pattern by L'Atelier in Redondo Beach , CA and it was a "sweater of the month" selection for May 2007.  I finished this April and May, only one year late, really not that bad.

I finished the long sleeve tee first, and posted a couple of pictures over at the other blog.    Here is the picture again, you can see me wearing it with a cotton turtleneck.  It was too cold most of May for me to even consider wearing this with merely a tank underneath, or with the vest either.  Apparently I finished just in time since Memorial Day weekend ushered in some summer weather.

In fact when I first saw the vest pinned out on the blocking board, I was a little nervous -- it just looked short to me:

  But I gamely sewed it together and even knit the button band before I looked at the sweater again. 

Spread out on my cutting table, where I was trying to determine button and buttonhole placement, I nearly panicked.  Now it really looked short.

I started wondering how I could lengthen it.  I figured it was about waist length, and a quick try on proved that this was the case.  Aack!! that is not a length sweater I normally wear.  I figured I could just cut and knit down:  that works perfectly well for stockinette, but would be tough with the cabled section on the left front.  I considered knitting that up and grafting it.  I quickly calculated I needed 4 more inches.

But then I realized I only had two skeins of yarn.  I was not sure that would be enough.

And then I thought to read the pattern.

Yes.  I did lengthen the vest, by two inches.  Yes it was meant to be waist length, and waist length for me is two inches longer than most patterns.  Since the tee (knit from Trendsetter's Binario) is meant to peek out beneath the vest, knitting the vest longer would alter the look of the ensemble  I decided to give it a try and I gritted my teeth, crossed my fingers, and finished.

Matilda is pleased to model the new ensemble.  We agree that it looks pretty nice, and yes the proportion of the vest is perfect with the tee.  Live and Learn.

I see, from looking at this on Matilda, instead of myself, that the front neckline looks uneven.  It is actually perfectly even when placed flat on the cutting table, but Matilda and I both have uneven shoulders, one shoulder is higher than the other, one shoulder rolls in more, and there is more of a hollow on one side.  I see that I am going to have to start altering my knitting so that the shaping fits the part of the body underneath -- meaning I should allow for that unevenness when I am knitting.  I do this when sewing.  I don't know why I haven't bothered as much with knitting.

And even thought the cable is less distinct because of the multicolored yarn, it is still pretty, with no badly aligned bobbles at the bust.

Comments

[Grace]

Hmm, my L shoulder is higher and rolls forward because I played the violin so much in my youth. What's your excuse?

The sweaters are lovely. Now I want to play hooky from work and visit L'Atelier. But my sister says she mailed a Habu kit 36 my way this morning and I can't wait to start on that!