knitting with scissors

I'm tired of the snow. Tired of thinking about the weather. Tired of white - dingy white - swirling white - and cold heavy wet white everywhere.

This is why I have not posted anything here for some time. I seem to have a compulsion to document the weather! I am tired of that. But it was either that, or getting into trouble for posting inside pictures with people's faces in it. . . .

Now this post has no pictures of people's faces. None.

You remember this vest, don't you? I wrote about it here. When I was done, it looked like this: Note the lack of the opening at the front, as well as here, at the armholes. (Which may be expected to make the wearing of it a bit of a challenge. . . .) This is where the scissors come in. First, though, a sewing machine, another device one wouldn't think of when thinking of knitting. One has to secure the knitting before cutting! Don't be tempted to do either the crochet or hand-sewing alternatives - I was - the sewing machine works great and is the easiest and neatest way of doing this.

Watch now: Get as close as you can to the center line you will cut along - marked here by red thread. Yes, you will need to mark it, especially when you're working with a really fine gauge, like this is. And second, you might re-think the colour of the marking thread - it looks a little too much like it's bleeding when you cut along red. . . .

Now, for the cutting. Take a deep breath. Now cut. I felt a sense of euphoria afterwards, and did not need to lie down in a dark room for a half hour to recover as Elizabeth Zimmerman recommended, first time 'round, with, or without the stiff drink she also recommended.

I believe I did partake in a libation of some sort, however, as I finally got to see the vest looking rather more like a vest. I've finished the armhole ribbing, but now I have to re-do the bottom ribbing using a smaller needle and as soon as I've decided on a button size, I can decide on how many buttons there will be, and knit the front facing ribbing.

Speaking of ribbing, here is the best method for an elastic cast off method for ribbing I have ever found. Look how pretty. . . . And speaking of buttons, here is a website with one of the more comprehensive button collections I was able to find. I thought I'd find a wealth of available choices - but I was a bit surprised and looked long and hard to find this one. Any others out there you'd recommend?