Wow, look at that, I can knit actual clothes!

Pattern:  Pembroke Vest, by Kirsten Kapur (free!)
Yarn:  Cascade Yarns 220 Superwash Paints in colorway #9997 “Juniper Berries.”
Needles:  US 3 & 5
Modifications:  I mirrored the cables instead of having them all twist the same way as written in the pattern.

When I gave birth to Monkeyboy and found out he was a boy, this pattern (along with Roar!) went into my queue as soon as I got home from the hospital.

It has been sitting in the queue for over a year, mostly because I was a little afraid to take on something of this magnitude.  (In case you haven’t noticed, I’m more of an “accessory knitter.”  I haven’t had much luck with my attempts to create actual clothing.)

Michael even encouraged me not to give this a go, stating that it was a whole lot of work for something that our boy would only wear for a short time.  I agreed with the logic of his observation and pushed aside all thoughts of casting on for the vest.

However, the vest kept taunting me.  I’d see other people finish their own vests for special boy tots in their lives and I loved each new creation!  I remained firm in my resolve, no matter how many cute Pembrokes popped up on Ravelry, I was going to be smart and not put my time into something that would be used for such a short amount of time.

My resolve dissolved completely during my second class for the Rock Island Shawl at Blazing Needles.  I saw the most beautiful variegated colorway of yarn and it screamed at me: “Make me into a Pembroke Vest for your son!”  I immediately purchased three skeins of the magical color and dashed away from the shop amidst “colorway coveting” from fellow shawl class participants.  We knitters are such enablers!

And once Rock Island was finished, I wound up those three skeins and went to town.  The majority of this was knit on our trip to Alberta.  I had only finished a few rows before starting the trip, and had completed everything except the last few rows of the neckline ribbing by the time we returned home. 

I enjoyed knitting this up very much.  I love to cable!  It’s so simple to do and produces such complex-looking results.  I feel like a knitting genius each time I cross stitches against each other.  The entertainment value of cabling is high for me.

This vest was originally slated to be one of Monkeyboy’s church outfits for the winter, but I’m loving it so much that I may just deem it an everyday outfit because he’ll get a lot more wear out of it in the weekly “everyday clothing” rotation rather than the twice-monthly “church outfit” rotation.  (I’ll just buy him another dress shirt and he’ll be fine in the church clothes category.)

So pleased!  🙂