focus friday. finished.

...as in the nantucket vest. which I really finished on tuesday. and wore on wednesday (and thursday :-) but saved to blog til today (so I could write one of those very cool alliterative blog titles).

when I wrote last weekend about having a day's more work to do on this piece, I thought I might be over-estimating a bit. turns out, not so much. I finished the back piece - 60 stitches wide x 13 inches long of straight stockinette - sunday evening, but one look at the body and all those ends to weave in... I put it into timeout. it sat there all day monday while I started my creature comfort cardi, feeling no guilt because both those projects were on my october list. and then tuesday morning I had a burst of energy and decided to start the finishing.

it wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I took my time getting the pieces pinned together. and even stopped for a try-on (and a photo :-) before I put my crochet hook to work.

turns out seaming with a crochet hook is pretty painless. I had the two seams done and nearly all the ends finished in about two hours. one more hour that evening and it was ready to block.

I followed my usual routine - soak for 20 minutes (holly enjoyed her walk!) and then lay out to dry. taking a photo at this point helped me get the oval more-or-less even. I turned the fan on high and left it til morning.

I pulled out the points just a tiny bit and evened up the edges along the back

wow! I knew it fit from the try-ons while I was knitting, but the finished piece is fabulous! I'm going to get a lot of wear from this one... tomorrow I'm planning those same cropped jeans and a dark gray long-sleeved t-shirt (the weather is finally turning a bit cooler).

many thanks to martha for the photos (and the fresh flowers :-)

project notes - raveled here - I followed shelley's pattern as written except for the yarn substitution (and the do-over :-). this was my first time knitting with maggi's linen and I think it's perfect for the pattern. love that it shows off all the stitch detail, while maintaining the integrity of her suggested 100% cotton yarn (maggi's is a 48/52 linen/cotton blend).