Read about me cutting this to fit, here!

<big>February 29, 2020:<big> Going on eleven years now, I decided to try to finish these sleeves on the knitting machine!

I also detached the button band and hook/eyes because it was so poorly done and floppy! I had ton of button band left when I re-attached.

February 12, 2014: Well, after finally finishing the body, knitting the front bands and trying it on, I noticed that parts of the front pieces were too large! I cut them down to size, read about my process in detail on my blog.

The cardi is too small to overlap the front band like I wanted. And I don’t really like how it hands when open. So, I added 4 hooks/eyes down the lower front.

I know I know -- you are telling me to just finish it as a vest, but I’ve decided to go on to the sleeves!

February 3, 2014: 4.5 years into this project! Thanks to the Finish that (older) Rowan project KAL, I’m going to finish this sucker. Body is now together and I’m making the front band.

The band is really not what I expected, as it doesn’t show in the picture! It is a wide ribbed piece that you sew on. I realize now that the piece is supposed to hang open (no buttons), but that looks really awkward with waist shaping. I guess you are supposed to use a belt like the gal in the pic? Well, I’ve decided to add a few buttonholes so I have the option to really close it.

Because years have elapsed, one of my fronts was larger than the other, some tension change I guess. I’m going to have to take in the seam a bit on that side.

Due to my years ago choice of needles that were too small, the band is really stiff. I’m not liking it, but at the same time, the rest of the fabric is really thin and limp, and this firm band is actually keeping it in place. So, I’m going to keep going. Anyway, it’s really wide using US0, I can’t imagine how much bigger it would be in US1.

April11: First side front done! It is fast if you actually knit it. I am doing another intarsia project now, so second side is waiting.

27Feb11: Back finished: 1 year, 5 months. Still on track for 3 years! I’m on a roll now though, so I’m expecting some big leaps in the project this year. The most frustrating thing was that the book is huge and the squares of the chart are too small. No printer could ever give a faithful representation of the colors, so I was always annoyed to take out the project with that awkward book… until I thought of using my iPad! I took a scanned .jpg and inserted it into a document of the Word-like program Pages. I enlarged the pic so that the squares were big enough. Then I drew a thick black horizontal line and I moved it up with each row. It’s brilliant! I use up a lot of iPad juice though, since every row takes so long. ;)

I’ve woven in all the ends except on the edges. I prefer using the seams to weave those in.

1Sept09: This is another 3-year project (predicted) started as a reward for finishing the last 3-year project, Staccato, which I bought aaaaall the yarn for at the same time. Yes, Rowan Yorkshire Tweed has been discontinued for exactly 3 years. I have some unexpected, blessed time on my hands, and I am happily knitting away. Each row takes about 20 minutes to knit (if there are no new bobbins to wind), and each row has an average of 28 bobbins hanging and twirling away at all tangly moments. Yes, I think my various tags of synonyms for ‘NUTS’ apply very well. However, I love intarsia better than fair-isle (surprising, maybe), and I have been looking forward to this (pretty) monster for a good while!

I changed all the colors because I wanted it to be bright. I am pleased with most of them except the Glory, a deep tan color.