30 oct: I had my brother measure the vertical height of one of his v-necks and he said it was 7” tall. I then washed and blocked the vest and it expanded to the appropriate size -- PHEW! Just need to weave in the ends and this is done. :) I really like it!

27 sep: I did some comparisons against some of my husband’s v-necks and checked some schematics of other men’s v-neck patterns and I think I need another inch of depth on this neck. Argh.

8 sep: done! just needs a wash+block and the ends woven in. Did not have to dip into the extra yarn and I still have some left over from the original batch. woo!

I am a little afraid that the v-neck is a little small and that the sweater might be a little short. It fits me just fine in the neck, but I don’t have a MAN NECK like my brother. My brother isn’t very tall but might have a long torso… well. I hope it fits, and we’ll see more after I wash and block it.

7 sep: front done, shoulders 3NB, need to seam the contoured shoulder. I tried it on but it looks funny on me. I think the neck won’t be too small and the armholes look good too. next up: seaming shoulder, knitting neck ribbing, knitting armholes (always takes longer than you think it will).

7 sep: I was trying to finish the front yesterday but didn’t quite manage it. Probably at lunchtime today I will. Exciting! It looks like I may have enough of the initial dye lot for the collar ribbing but will probably have to break into an extra ball for the armhole ribbing. hopefully the dye lots will be close enough…

6 sep: finished the back. I was almost done with the front when I realized I started the V neck a little too late (the pattern specifies ‘after X repeats of center cable chart’ which I had to then extrapolate since my row gauge is off as usual -- and there’s no schematic).

24 aug: almost done with the third ball of yarn. It’s at 11” (in the back), will knit to 15” and then start the armholes.

7 aug: whoops, keep forgetting to update. I did 4 sets of short rows (8 rows) in the front to counter any sort of belly raise-up. I pick this up and work on it randomly, so it is growing. I think it’s at about 7” in the back now.

29 jul: a few more rows yesterday. grow grow grow! My brother is not very tall (5’10”?) but I apparently forgot to take a shoulder to hem measurement. I think I might add some short rows in the front now that I am a few inches in to accommodate the buddha.

28 jul: another couple repeats in, it is finally growing. just joined the second ball of yarn (russian join).

21 jul: yet another flub, this time I’m leaving it -- I worked the first rope cable row in the wrong direction. I switched it on the next cable row and I am ok with a consistent first row being the opposite direction (it looks cool) and I will probably repeat this at the top of the shoulder. I’m about 6 rows into the cabling now. Much faster than all of that 1x1 twisted rib!

20 jul: worked the cable set up row (row 0) -- read the charts r-to-l instead of l-to-r and so had an extra ktbl (ptbl in pat, since it’s on the WS but I am knitting in the round) … had to rip that half-round back (125 st!). I’m all set now though, tonight I start the real cabling if I have time between work, workout, and preparing for Mom to get here!

19 jul: I’m on the 7th round of 1x1 twisted rib… taking a while! I’m using hiyahiya interchangeable circulars in the 4” tip and the cable bends at such an angle at the needle end that it pushes its way through my stitches (this is due to the pivot), which means I keep having to mess with it. It would work great for magic loop, but I’m knitting a hopefully ~50” sweater on a 40” needle so it’s getting a little annoying. I am thinking it might stop doing this when I have more fabric on the needle.

17 jul: started this last night after I finished a couple of other projects. I’m knitting it in the round and I very seriously doubt my gauge will be anything like the 21st/4” that the pattern specifies, so I am starting with one size smaller than I would normally and I will measure to see how it looks after I’m a bit in. YES, this means I might have to rip it all out and restart but there’s no way I am going to get an accurate gauge swatch for this because it’s so large. CO 250 st for L size.

queue: Kev signed off on this pattern! I took a vest he likes the fit of over his shirt and measured it. It varies from 50 to 52” chest (50 at chest; 52 at hem). I just need to get some appropriate charcoal yarn.