Weekend WIP: Fossil

I'm slightly ashamed to say this was cast on at the start of June. It is only a vest top knitted in DK but I have not yet got to joining in the round - though that's going to happen on the next row; I juist ran out of time.

The main reason for this is, of course, the exam work; but also I cast it on thinking it would be an easy thing to pick up and put down, but I forgot that I was complicating things by adjusting the pattern.

It's a Rowan pattern - Fossil - and written for Damask, which is the yarn I am using. It is pieced, so I would already have adjusted it to knit it in the round. However, I also had a slight problem because the pattern wanted 8 balls of Damask for my chosen size and I only have 6 in this colourway. Experience tells me that I will only need 6; maybe into a 7th. Rowan aren't quite as bad as Debbie Bliss for overestimating the amount of yarn needed but they aren't perfect.

I have some more of this yarn ("some" lol) in a darker blue colourway which I used to make a vest top in 2009, and consequently did not have enough of to make the Fossil as well. So, I decided I would convert the pattern to a top down: a darker blue stripe would look planned around the bottom of the garment; not so much at the top.

So, the bottom-up pieced pattern is now a top-down all-in-one and that meant some concentrating had to be done, and some counting. This meant that, as I curled into my chair for my daily hour off to watch an episode of Game of Thrones, it was easier just to leave the knitting where it was than devote a little brain power to figuring out my next step. Hence, slow.

As you can see here, I am almost to the point of joining in the round. I picked up and knit down for the front pieces once I had finished the back. It is going well so far. I am surprised by how much I love how this colour is knitting up: I thought it was a bit insipid in the ball but it is really pretty in the fabric. It reminds me of a mottled, hazy sky.

I'm ever so slightly concerned that it looks huge but the gauge was right so I am just going to go with it. At worst I will have to do some serious waist decreases and add a sizable neck edging.