Drive by Blogging: Aster
Today's drive by blog post features a project that took me over two years to make. While I blame a good portion of that gap on having a baby, it also was one of the fiddliest projects I've done. The pattern is "Aster Vest" by Cassie Castillo and I fell in love with it when I saw it because of the beautiful lace and the medallion in the back:
I swatched for two weeks and tried two different yarns... I ended up using NaturallyCaron.com Spa (now discontinued). The yarn was excruciatingly splitty (splity?) but ended up blocking beautifully.
Before:
After:
You really do block the living daylights out of this pattern. Here's what the fronts looked like before:
And after:
I changed the back from what was written. I thought it was too narrow and would have required stretching the stockinette more than what would have been attractive in order to meet the pattern measurements.
Then I had to assemble. I'm actually rather pleased with how my seams turned out (I crochet them, in case you're curious). It wasn't easy to seam because the fronts are knit up and down but the back is knit in the round, so you seam the side of one piece and the "top" of another:
Then came knitting on the lace edging and the garter stitch on the collar and armholes. The edging went ok. The collar was tricky.
I do wish I had added stitches to the armhole or cast off way more loosely as it's a little snug, but I'm willing to live with it as it is. This vest was very hard-won, but I like it and I wear it. And it took third place in its division at the fair this year!
Front:
Back:
Until my next drive by blog post!
I swatched for two weeks and tried two different yarns... I ended up using NaturallyCaron.com Spa (now discontinued). The yarn was excruciatingly splitty (splity?) but ended up blocking beautifully.
Before:
You really do block the living daylights out of this pattern. Here's what the fronts looked like before:
I changed the back from what was written. I thought it was too narrow and would have required stretching the stockinette more than what would have been attractive in order to meet the pattern measurements.
Then I had to assemble. I'm actually rather pleased with how my seams turned out (I crochet them, in case you're curious). It wasn't easy to seam because the fronts are knit up and down but the back is knit in the round, so you seam the side of one piece and the "top" of another:
Then came knitting on the lace edging and the garter stitch on the collar and armholes. The edging went ok. The collar was tricky.
I do wish I had added stitches to the armhole or cast off way more loosely as it's a little snug, but I'm willing to live with it as it is. This vest was very hard-won, but I like it and I wear it. And it took third place in its division at the fair this year!
Front:
Back:
Until my next drive by blog post!
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