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Low Tide Cardigan knit with Madeline Tosh sock. (Crazy..... all these pictures are of the same sweater....just taken at different times of day....the first is closest to the actual color--definitely grey, not blue!)
It's been a long time since I've worked so hard to make a project work....this little vest was blocked/reblocked/reblocked/then blocked one more time (one of the many reasons I LOVE wool!)
It is knit from the top down, so shortening it wasn't a huge ordeal, but it had to be shortened twice (that was about 4" worth of knitting!! EGAD!) (Those front tails are really really long, and I'm sort of short-waisted---it was a bad combo.)
Even though I'm an extremely loose knitter--and can usually bind off loosely with no problem, the bind-off just wasn't right, so it got ripped out a third time--but, the third time was the charm. I used Jeny's surprisingly stretchy bind-off (Cat Bordhi's video demo) and learning this bind-off was worth all the fiddling! It would be great for toe-up socks (if I knit toe-up socks!); it will be perfect for shawls, and it was just the thing this little vest needed to keep the fabric drapey.
The lace panel bodice is knit first, so you have to decide early in the project whether there will be button holes or crocheted loops. I'm not much of a crocheter, but I'm glad I decided on the loops; the buttons seem to nestle in them so nicely,
and, the very best thing about this project is the buttons, handmade and gifted from a dear friend.......who lives in low-tide country. What could be more perfect?