My Collar Shawl Vest

Last January, I purchased the Needful Cara Mia yarn from Elann. This is my first time buying yarns from Elann and did not realized that there's a lot of knitters who are actually wanting for 10am PST to buy their yarns. For those who are not familiar with Elann, every week (mostly on Tuesdays) this yarn store offers new yarns. I usually miss out on their yarn sales although they always have good prices for yarns. So when I saw this Cara Mia, I fell in love with it. It looks so soft and I think it will just be perfect for the Collar Vest Shawl pattern that I want. So I waited for 10am PST and was supposed to get the Chocolate Brown color. As soon as I was about to check it out, to my dismay, it was all gone! That quick my dear friends... LOL It's not even 1010am and the color that I want is gone. So I went back again, and I chose a green color and as soon as I click my cart, it's gone too! I was about to give up when I saw the grey color yarn still available. So I tried and viola! I finally bought it! It seems like an auction at Ebay. hehehe.. But I am happy with my purchase. And did I tell you the shipping was great too? I received it the same week, I think. I cannot remember now.



After I received the yarn, I started to make the vest. Oh to those who don't know me that much, I hate checking my gauge. This is one reason why I refuse to knit hats and garments. I remember I made 3 hats when I was just starting, and all of those turned out to be big! But since I really love this vest, I decided to check my gauge! woohoo for me! =) And I am glad I did.


There's a lot of ribbing in this pattern! And since I have to cast on a lot of stitches, I checked my count for about 5times! LOL just being my OC self. The pattern is so easy to follow. I didn't really do this project all the time since I can't carry it out with me coz it's heavy. ;) I usually knit this when I'm watching sports on TV with my hubby. Little did I know that i'm almost finished. It has been sitting on my closet for a week now and this morning, I decided to finally finish it up.

Front

Back

The only part missing is a button/pin to hold them together. My friend, Sharon, mentioned about the sweater pins and so I looked it up online. As I was searching, I found some shawl pins, which would be appropriate I think... but they are expensive! The one that I like costs $25! urgh! It will be more expensive than my yarn! LOL So I think, I will try to find a cheaper version of this somewhere so that I can finally use this vest soon. I love it! It is soft and really warm, just perfect for this freezing temp here at Florida.