Do what I mean, not what I tell you

We've all heard the saying, "Do what I mean, not what I tell you." Apparently this also applies to knitting patterns. And boy did I find this out the hard way. Yes, I am talking about none other than that vest I am making for my Mom.

The vest instructions said to bind off all three pieces (back, right front, and left front) and that is exactly what I did. Then I did a gawd awful job of seaming the shoulders.

However I have since discovered from more seasoned knitters that I should have seam using kitchener, 3-needle bind off, or mattress stitch. Every example of the kitchener and 3-needle bind off shows it worked with both pieces still on needles, so this would mean I should not have bound off any of the vest pieces (as per pattern instructions) before doing either of these. And the examples of mattress stitch I have seen show seaming up the side of the knitting, and I couldn't figure out how to apply the mattress stitch to seaming the shoulders where you are working across the knitting. Then I stumbled upon this site showing how to knit stitch seam, which looks like the thing to do if both pieces have already been bound off and you're seaming across the knitting. However I still don't really grasp this technique and wish I could find better (more close up) step-by-step photos.

Oh well, it is too late to redo the shoulder seams since I have already knit the band around the arm hole. And I am NOT undoing that.

I'm still working on the band that goes around the front, from the bottom right section, up to and around the neck, then down the left to the bottom. That's 238 stitches to be picked up. I also have to figure out how to evenly space 5 button holes across a 58-stitch section.

If I ever finish this vest and if I ever decide to knit another shaped garment, I will probably try to find a pattern that does not require any seaming. Is there such a thing?

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I'm a bit frustrated with the disorganization of my yarn stash at the moment. I know I have a bag of Highland Wool in the Ruby red color (same color as these mitts). And although my Ravelry Stash is not quite up to date, I did take a lookie and it shows I had 14 balls with a few used for some projects. So I'm not smoking crack. I should have a good bulk of this yarn somewhere in the house. So where is it? I've looked in my Yarnmoire and all the plastic bins where I store overflow yarn. I went through these places three times over the past 2 days. Nothing. That bag of Highland Wool yarn is in hiding the way some of Miss M's toys do.

I was so intent on finding this a couple of days ago. Now I can't even remember why I was lokoing for it. Perhaps it'll come back to me when it's not past midnight and I am more awake.

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