V-Neck Vest for Dad

Done! 

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Cable V-Neck Pullover Pattern pattern from freevintageknitting.com. 

Beginning in the round mistakes are so, so easy to correct and yes, the sooner the better. Don't get mad. Get glad.

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Tip: When you didn't cast on enough

I was short stitches. So I reknit the missing stitches (9 or something) with a different length, stuck them next to each other, and sew!

After a while, if you carefully examine the way the "ribs" of knitting cross horizontally, I sort of wedge the tail I am sewing to imitate the natural horizontal ribbing. 

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Tip#2 They're wrong. Don't joint the loop right away

Using the above method, nowadays, I rarely close the loop before moving on. Basically I never join first for anything I'm doing with a circular larger than 16" or on DPN that's got a really awkward amount (like hella small. Like 12 or 6). I knit as a flat piece, then to close the loop, I stick them next to each other and sewed them those ends together, too!

When you DO join, just make sure all the stitches are either pointing out of the circle or towards the circle. It doesn't matter which way. They just have to not cross over each other. You can see in the picture below my preference of having the work pointing inwards, so the needle faces you and the work faces away.

After: Ends sewn together. Will weave in tails.

Before: Ends placed next to each other, long tails for sewing

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Tip #3 Do not hesitate to rewrite patterns so that you can understand them.

This is the pattern as is, an absolute nightmare.

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This is the pattern as I rewrote it. Might still be a nightmare for anyone not me. 

What I changed:

• "3rd row" to "Row 3" etc
• Remove special stitch (the twist) instructions/descriptions for acronym
• if unfamiliar with the stitch, write out the instructions ONCE at the top
• Formatting of repeats. I prefer small repeats as ()*# and larger repeats as [ ]*Rep for #. 
• Sample abbreviated: Row 6: k1, T5B, [k6, (p2, k3)*4, k6] Rep to 2, p2
• Sample written out: For row six, start with one knit stitch. Then, twist across 5 stitches with yarn in back. Knit six stitches. Then purl 2 and knit 3 in a sequence of four times. Then knit 6. Repeat starting with the pattern after the twist until there are 2 stitches left. Then purl the last two stitches.

I could not imagine working this pattern while reading the original chart. Nobody does that. Nobody. At least not me.

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That Must Be Merino in Hobby Lobby's proprietary Yarn Bee line is actually pretty ok. Lighter, can't debate the wool-ness. Really will not felt well at all, but eh whatever. They usually have the 30% off on yarn.

I got the 7 skeins that were on the shelf. I somehow always time it to NOT get the 30% off.