Saturday, November 15, 2014

FO: Classy Fornicating Deer Vest

Caution: the following pictures are probably in the PG to just below PG-13 range.  You have been warned.
After charting, lots of knitting with ugly colors, late nights picking up collar stitches, and doing math to make sure the pattern ended up in the right place (and I hate math- I'm an English teacher, folks), it is done.

The Classy Fornicating Deer Vest for my brother is finished and being worn around the city of Duluth as we speak.  :)
Pattern: For the vest, I used the #276 Basic Cardigan Vest for Men by Diane Soucy and published by Knitting Pure and Simple, then incorporated the Fornicating Deer Chart by Anne Rutten.

Yarn: Good ol' Cascade 220 Worsted Weight in Navy and Burnt Orange.
Needles: Size 6 for the ribbing on the edges, size 8 for the body.
Timeframe: June 7th-November 13th, 2014.

Modifications:  So the obvious one is adding the deer chart to the vest.  I began the chart about 10" from the CO edge, though if you're planning your own vest I'd recommend a little more as my brother has a slightly shorter torso.  The vest measured 13" when I broke off for the underarms.  I flipped one of the charts for one of the front sections, so both sets of deer would be facing inward (which turned out quite nice).  I also added more trees in the chart for the back section, so the deer had a little more privacy for their business.  I think it looks like a nice little wooded area. :)  Otherwise I followed the directions for the vest pretty closely- they were well-written and worked well as a starting point for the idea.  If you would like a copy of any of my drawn charts, let me know and I'll send you a PDF!  You'll have to do the math yourself to figure out how many stitches to add on the sides, but it's really not that bad.

Worst Part: I've always hated picking up stitches for ribbing on arms.  This was no different.  There may have been one or two points where I viciously commented on how ugly and dated the colors looked (which was the whole point of those colors), but otherwise the whole thing was pretty smooth.
Best Part: Thinking of my brother's expression when he opened it up.  Then, today, getting that expression when he opened it up.  It was also awesome that he opened it up in front of about 10 of his friends, all of whom also loved it.

Yeah, I'm pretty excited with how well this one turned out. :)
Oh, on a side note- check out these buttons:

It's all about the details. ;)

5 comments:

SteveQ said...

I think it would be great if it were possible to make it so you didn't see what the image was until it was buttoned up... so they might wear it and not know.

Mark said...

'Classy'- your mom & I need one too :-)

Marissa said...

I love this and was trying to create my own pattern with the fornicating deer chart for a Christmas vest for my husband. Your info will help so much!

Marissa said...

Oh, and would you mind sending me a copy of your modified charts?!

Katie said...

Marissa- I'd be happy to send you a copy! Send me an email at avakate10@gmail.com and I'll get you those patterns :)