Sunday, September 28, 2008

Back to School Vest - done

(scroll down for Ed Sander photos)

The Back to School vest is done. It's blocked and all the last bits are sewn up and woven in. Here's a peek:

I like it. Everything worked out very well with this vest. I knit extensions to the cables framing the neck to sew onto the back, to serve as the back neckline. I had to guesstimate how long they'd be, because I knew that the width of the back would grow once I blocked it. By chance, I got it almost exactly right. I say almost because, while the piece went together perfectly when I was sewing it, it does look a little wonky on. I think it just might need another block. In the meantime, I'm very happy how nicely and quickly this turned out.

Pattern specs: Yarn -- Elann.com's Peruvian Highland Wool, in Chocolate Truffle. I think I used 5 balls, total, including swatching and sewing up (yarn cost < $12.00. Not bad.) Pattern: cobbled together myself, using cables from different sources. I think this will be a great transitional piece. Now that I'm done with this, I need to figure out what to do next. Another sweater? Shawl? Scarf? In the meantime, I'm making progress on the little socklets for my mother-in-law. I tried a couple of different approaches that didn't work, but I think my current one will. Will post pictures when I have more to show.

This weekend was the Ed Sanders Memorial Cyclocross race up at Lilypons in Maryland. Both Mr. T and Sr. Jr. competed. All the rain (including some that came during the race) made for a very muddy, slippery ride. Mr. T wasn't thrilled with how he performed, but Sr. Jr. came in 5th in his race. Here are some pictures of the race:




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

That is a really beautiful vest - I don't think it looks wonky at all - it looks very nice on you!

Scott T. said...

Nice vest.

Jake did well, fighting back from a crappy start to pass several kids in the second/last lap. What you can't see or smell in the second picture is he is running through ankle deep, peanut butter mud that smelled distinctly like cow shit.

Anonymous said...

The vest is indeed beautiful. A classic. The photos of the bike race (is that what you call it?) are adorable. Is Jr. Jr. interesting in the sport at all? What great father-son bonding time. The showering and laundry afterwards, though--ugh.

My Jake came home from his cross country race late Saturday afternoon with a backback full of muddy, soaking wet clothes and a completely mud-spattered body. Stinky too.

Loren T said...

Thanks, Sharon :) The bike racing really is a nice father/son bonding thing. Jr. Jr. says he wants to do it, too, but he's not quite proficient enough on his bike yet. I hope that he and his dad get some good biking time in, too. Luckily, they provide hoses at the races, so the guys get to hose the majority of the muck off themselves before they come home.

But boys really do like to get all mucky, don't they?

Loren

kippi said...

Great vest! I really like the cabling on the neckline. It makes it look more sophisticated than traditional ribbing.

Love the cycling photos. That sport sounds like a lot of fun. I like it that it includes both boys and girls.

Sorry Mr. T. on your race. :-(.