Milo Vest

I am very happy with the results of the Milo vest that I knitted for Nina. It's a great, simple top-down pattern knitted in the round. I chose to knit this for 2 reasons: 1) I wanted to road test the Utiku Perendale 8ply yarn that I bought in NZ last year (it is so reasonably priced and the colours are great so it could be a staple), and 2) I wanted to knit something with one skein and that included a cable. My first cable!

The yarn is not the softest and is a little fuzzy but it knits up nicely. Hopefully it won't be too scratchy, but it shouldn't matter with this garment because she will always wear something under it. This is going to be a nice warm vest for Autumn/Winter.

So this was my first attempt at knitting a cable and I am very happy with the result although I actually missed one row out of the giant cable repeat. Because of this and the fact that I knit tightly anyway (and especially when crossing the stitches) I think that the cable is a little tighter than it should be. I stretched it out when wet blocking it and I think that has made a big difference as you can see in the before and after shot below.
Left: Before blocking. Right: After blocking

Above: Close up of my cable

Above: A very lovely cast off edge. I used the decrease cast off method for the first time and loved it. I tend to cast off too tightly and usually find it slow going so this kills two bird with one stone. I used this Knitty article for instruction as recommended in the pattern.

I ended up with half a skein left and have decided to whip up a cute hat to match.