Crimson Aster Vest

And, now presenting, my new favorite sweater...

When I was perusing ravelry's new patterns and saw the medallion on the back of this vest, I knew I had to make it, even though I am not generally a vest kind of gal.

The front of the vest has lace on the bottom and stockinette on the top.

And, even though I picked the sweater because of the back, I love the vest because of the side panels {which is good because that is what I get to look at}.

The right side mirrors the left side perfectly. The pattern was not an easy one for me to memorize and I had to constantly refer to the pattern the entire time. Only at the very end did I finally figure it out which was good because I had to redo the top of the first panel two or three times.

The panels themselves also threw me for a loop. When I first started working on them, I didn't realize that the panel was going to be used diagonally and once the top was bound off and there were two stitches left, I was puzzled what to do with those last two stitches. It took me a while reading and rereading the instructions before I finally understood what was going on.

One thing I did change was to skip rows 6 and 7 of the side panels, which left three stitches on the side panels instead of just two. But it also allowed the one knit stitch that separated the bottom of the side panel from the two stitch garter stitch edging on the side to continue up into the top of the vest. I really liked that continuity from top to bottom. I had to adjust the number of stitches that I picked up to accommodate that extra stitch.

I also added a button to the vest. The button and loop didn't really hold it closed as well as I had originally hoped, so I had to add a hook and eye underneath the loop to hold in closed.

Adding the hook and eye added structure and made the vest look right. I may add one more pair underneath the button. I'm still on the fence whether or not it is necessary.

The pattern was very well written. This was the first pattern that I have ever found blocking to be essential. I blocked many of the pieces and then blocked them again and again. Once the back was blocked, it fit perfectly with the side panels.

Now, you know me, I hate seaming. And, there was a lot of seaming with this project. But, it was worth it.

The oddest seam was the 2 stitch garter stitch that extended around the neck. Using an idea from another project that I had made, I added a knit stitch so that it was easier to sew the band to the vest. I am glad I made that change.

This was the first time I've knitted lace around the edge of a project. The instructions were not very clear as to which side should be which so I assumed that the wrong side of the lace edging should go with the wrong side of the wrong side of the vest.

But, I really didn't like the right side of the lace edging.

I liked the wrong side of the lace edging better. So, I pulled out the small bit of lace edging above and redid it using the wrong side as the right side (and starting on the opposite side of the vest).

And, of course, the lace edging must be blocked.

{I'm afraid that it will have to be blocked 

every time it's washed}

But, I love the finished result...

I love my new sweater!