Short vest or long shrug?

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Mom's vest, almost done

I truly do believe I can see that light at the end of the tunnel. My mom's vest project is very similar to watching the grass grow.

The photo above shows my current progress. I have finally managed to seam the sides. I could not believe how long this took. Weaving ends afterward was a walk in the park compared to seaming the sides! I couldn't believe I actually enjoyed weaving in ends. I never liked doing that before. It's all relative I guess.

SIDE SEAMS

Vest left seam

I started with the left seam (above) then did the right seam (below). I've heard that it is better to seam going from bottom up. I did my seaming top down, since I had long tails at the arm hole end which I wanted to use for seaming instead of tacking on a separate piece of yarn and having more ends to weave in later. Seaming is tricky business when you want to end up with the same amount of on both sides when you approach the end.

Vest right seam

FRONT BAND SECTION

In theory, the front band should be straight from hem to the beginning of the neck shaping section and then it should form a "V" from there upwards to the shoulders. Now look at the two photos below and tell me whether anything looks straight to you.

Left Front band curvature

Right front band curvature

Both front sections have this annoying curvature to them. I'm hoping it'll straighten out when I block the vest.

Ruffling or flaring in the band

Why do I have this ruffling effect on the front band? It doesn't look flattering at all. I'm hoping to minimize this too when I block the vest.

The pattern said to pick up 50 stitches along the "V" sections. I wonder whether I should have reduced this number. Although I'm not sure how one is supposed to figure out how many stitches to pick up.

Button band section

The ruffling effect isn't as noticeable in the button band section, which is 58 picked up stitches.


VEST LENGTH

So we think we're almost done. Right?

Wrong.

Here's what the vest looks like when I wear it. Is it a short vest or a long shrug? I know it's hard to get an idea of how long it is with what I was wearing when I took this photo. I can tell you that the bottom of the vest doesn't even reach my belly button!

Short vest or long shrug?

I haven't yet blocked the vest. My only hope now is to be able to block it longer without adding too much width. My mom is petite like me, so if will most likely fit her if it fits me.

So far I find this the most discouraging knitting project ever. And I have an even greater respect for knitters who can knit perfect vests and sweaters.

Mental note: DO NOT attempt any patterns labeled "intermediate" level.

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On a happier note, our Dove Family is doing fine despite the dark brown neighborhood cat's interest in them. I've noticed more scrambling sounds on our roof, particularly at night. We hadn't seen the cat loitering around the yard since the Finch Family moved out.

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