Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Leprechaun-Shooting Princesses and a Vest

We had a great weekend visiting friends. They have a 3-year-old daughter who loves pink, princesses, and jewelry. She also knows what to do if she ever encounters a Leprechaun. She would "Shoot it, take it home, and make Leprechaun stew." Who said princesses were helpless damsels in distress? So here's a sock for the Leprechaun-shooting princess. The second one is still in the works, but I hope she enjoys them.
I guess she may have gotten a little confused between Pilgrims shooting turkeys in the woods around Thanksgiving Day and St. Patrick's Day...


I also finished my Back-to-School U-Neck Vest. Doesn't look like much just lying there, does it?


It transforms miraculously when you put it on, though... fits like a glove. Please excuse the bad hair, dark undereye circles, and rictus grin... it's been a long day at work, and then we'd just finished watching an old Dr. Who episode involving people getting massacred by aliens.


And here's a shot from the back. I love it. Still needs blocking, but I couldn't wait to show it off.


Details:
Pattern: Back-to-School U-Neck Vest from Fitted Knits
Size: 34" size; I intentionally didn't get gauge for a snugger fit as I wanted 0 or less positive ease
Yarn: Berroco Ultra Alpaca, left over from the Dad Sweater, about 2.5 skeins
Needles: US #6 and #4
Mods/Comments: This was a quick, fun knit. I made the ribbing longer (cast on for 34" size but made length for next size up), and I love the result. The trousers in the picture are low-rise, and the vest reaches all the way down.
The instructions are unclear in one place -- after the ribbing, the pattern says to start the broken rib pattern... except the first couple of rows are stockinette. I started with the broken rib right away, but if I had to do it again, I'd do the stockinette rows first. This looks fine, though -- it's just personal preference.

There is, however, a mistake in the neck shaping. For the front in the 34" size, it says to
knit 46 stitches
put remaining 22 on holder
bind off 28 stitches

This is INCORRECT. It leaves you with 18 stitches on one shoulder and with 22 on the other. And when you’re done with the decreases, you’d end up with too few stitches. But the neck/shoulders work out beautifully if you
knit 48 stitches
put remaining 20 stitches on holder
bind off 28 stitches.
both shoulders will have 20 stitches, and reversing the shaping will be easy.
Do the math for back neck shaping also - I think there's another error.

If you have stuck around this far... here's a cat. Merlin, on top of the fireplace, hamming it up for the camera.


It has yet to get him tuna, but he's not giving up hope.

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

Your vest looks great! I have a friend who made it too and it really looked like it was saying - "here's my chest" with an arrow but yours looks much better. Great job!

Bezzie said...

Love the vest! I've heard that book is pretty errata-y.

And what else does one do with leprechauns??? ;-)

Bonnie said...

Your vest came out perfect! Beautiful color and fit. Congrats!

Amanda said...

The vest looks super cute on you - great color!

DeltaDawn said...

Mmmm... tuna

Vest looks great! Makes me want one now (wonders what's in the stash that might work...)

adrienne said...

Your vest looks awesome! It will be so warm and cozy when it's cool.

(and leprechaun stew? hilarious!)

Rosi G. said...

Nice vest! Fits you great. I'm sure it makes a great layer to wear to work in the spring/summer when offices can try to FREEZE one to death!

weezalana said...

The vest looks fanTAStic on you! Beautiful!

Beverly said...

The vest looks great on you. Perfect fit!

Zonda said...

Love the vest! Fits you well! Good thing you can do math and refigure out the pattern too! Nice sock :)

Becky said...

Gorgeous vest and it looks great on you.

Your cat is too funny. :)

ChestyLove said...

I really like the stuff in Fitted Knits (and the photography is glorious), but the list of errata is, to me, unforgivable. It's like every. single. pattern has not just "here and there" errors, but major problems.

I'm glad you made that vest...it looks smashing on you, of course!

And I wouldn't call it a rictus grin...more like a Tour Guide grin! "Please hold all questions until after the tour...thank you!"

turtlegirl76 said...

Ooh I love the vest! It looks great in red!

cpurl17 said...

The vest id adorable! I see Merlin climbed up to get a better view!

Eileen said...

Gorgeous vest. I do like that. You did a wonderful job on it. And it looks great on you.

And...who better than a leprachaun-shooting princess as a gift recipient?!

Kathy Kathy Kathy said...

It's you!

Mary said...

Bedeutet Vest jetzt Weste oder Pullunder? Egal, Dein neues Oberteil sieht auf jeden Fall klasse aus! Und die rosa Socken könntest Du für die "Grimms Sockenkalendergruppe" in Ravelry im Juni verwenden, sie erinnern mich nämlich an Dornröschen. Schööön.

Liebe Grüße
Mary