Wickedly fuchsia

So time for a reveal! Yes, the long awaited wicked vest is now finished, blocked and buttoned and ready to wear. Only took me over a year to get this one off the needles but hey, at least this one managed it:)) I can finish small projects easily but long ones seem to die a death or end up in a long hibernation once I start getting bored. So I don't tend to make many big projects any more. Every now and again I try - like the hawaiian flowers blanket - but its very stop and start at the moment too. I LOVE the flowers, I enjoy making them too but I just don't seem to be able to be monogamous in my projects! Got to have more than one on the go:)

But the wicked vest has made it and it fits! This was an issue as I thought the ribbing and my use of a different weight yarn might mean a very skinny rib fit but no - whew! Looks nice and skinny on the dummy though:) Not quite so skinny in real life - probably because I don't have adjustable buttons to reduce my bum size :))) What a wonderful thing that would be!! I'm not totally convinced about the white shirt underneath either. I'm not really a shirt person so it looks and feels a bit uncomfortable on me  - rather a staid look for me, even in fuchsia! So I think I'll need to experiment a bit till I get the right combo or it'll end up never worn, and that would be a shame after all that knitting and all that waiting!

I did manage to find some really cool rose shaped buttons for this though. I swithered on whether to have a contrasting or harmonious colour as I've seen lovely versions on ravelry that worked either way, but the subtle combinations won the day - if you can call bright fuchsia buttons subtle! But what a job I had getting the right shade of pink! I didn't realise how difficult it would be trying to match this yarn. It's not bright pink, nor rose and has a paler tone overall so nothing seemed to be 'just right' as goldilocks would say. Eventually I decided to go for see-through ones hoping that the yarn colour would come through and soften the overall tone of the buttons. I think it's worked rather well ;)) Girly but not girly, if you know what I mean.

Now, I have to consider the other poor projects in hibernation.... if I don't get distracted...... again! :))

Wicked Eyelet Rib Vest aka Wicked fushia

While we are still waiting on the yarn for Urchin - I know, a week waiting already - I've been getting on with a few projects, this lovely eyelet vest pattern and pair of stripey socks with my new noro. The noro socks are a whole story in themselves which I will save for another day but its fair to say there have been trials and tribulations with those socks!

So back to my wicked fushia. It's a lovely pattern with twisted stitches mimicking cables which develops into twists and eyelets up the ribbed section which flows into lovely eyelet detailing on a st st background. It's a simple pattern to follow and each pattern section is charted clearly. Once this is blocked the eyelet detail will be more obvious and as this is a 35" size for my 36" it will be stretching a bit anyway! I plumbed for this size as its meant to be a neat fit and the next size was a 39". Well, if it doesn't fit, it can always be a present!

But this is such a me colour! It will already be fitting well with most of my wardrobe:-) I don't usually wear shirts but this style does look nice on the model. I'll wait to see if I can carry it off!

I've got a little further than the photos show. The back panel is complete and I have started the first front panel. It knits up relatively quickly and the pattern is easy to remember so this is an excellent tv knitting project. So far, I have watched Sleeping murder - miss marple - and Star Trek Insurrection. Now I'm about to start the Lord of the Rings trilogy - extended version. Well, that's a good 12 hours of knitting right there!

See you later!