I am thisclose to finishing my sister’s vest:

All that’s left is some seaming under the armholes (approximately 1.5″ under each arm) and ribbing around the neckline and the armholes.  Unfortunately for me, I can’t seem to get the hang of the mattress stitch (which makes an invisible side seam).  This is frustrating because I was easily able to graft the shoulder pieces together on my first attempt:

This seaming nonsense is driving me batty!  I’ll take this opportunity, though, to walk away from the project and clear my head.  Hopefully I’ll be more successful tomorrow.  In the meantime, I’ll continue reading Pedaling Revolution: How Cyclists are Changing American Cities.  (That book makes me pine something awful for a more bike-friendly Staten Island… and NYC in general.)

Of course, after bragging about all of my knitting adventures, I went and messed up that vest I mentioned last time.  My first mistake was accidentally throwing off the stitches in half the vest’s circumference.  However, I compensated for that error by adding a stitch (or two) and hoping that my sister wouldn’t notice the error.  However, about an hour later, I dropped several stitches and I couldn’t salvage them.  In the end, I unraveled the whole thing (about 5″ tall and 26″ around) while bawling my eyes out.  Instead of trying again, I just set the yarn and pattern aside and embarked on a different project while I mourned the loss of my vest.  (I ended up knitting a scarf for my boyfriend’s father.  It came out really well, if I do say so myself.)

About a week later, I figured I was ready to tackle the vest again… so I put my needles and yarn to work and, after three days, the vest is already looking like a vest!  (Or, at the very least, the beginning of a vest.)

It’s incredibly rewarding seeing the item take shape and look like what it’s supposed to look like.  At this point, though, all I’m worried about is fit.  The pattern is actually just a set of notes taken by a girl as she knit this sweater for herself.  (I think she’s Thumbelina in disguise.  She looks tiny in the photos!)  I’m hoping that I can recall some 5th grade math as I figure out the new dimensions for this vest, as it is meant to fit a regular-sized person.  It’s looking good so far and I’m quite pleased!

…Now I just need to make sure that I really pay attention while I knit so I stop making time-consuming mistakes.  (Harumph!)