Ah, a vest…

I have been so enjoying the one vest I own.  It wasn’t even meant to be a vest. The Aleita Shell from Interweave Spring 2008 was supposed to be a summer piece in my wardrobe, but a mistake in how long the top section turned out and my lack of bosom to fill it out meant that it would have been a very daring summer top indeed. I knit it this summer while I was in Germany and had already planned how it would combine with the skirts and pants I’d packed. Ah, well, it’s found a new purpose in life.

For the past 5 years or so, I’ve taken full advantage of the layering trend, often wearing a tanktop as an undershirt with a longsleeve shirt and a T shirt over that.  In the initial burst of joy in rediscovering my body and my energy when I lost the  50 pounds, I was extra happy that it made me look young, since I felt so incredibly youthful compared to the trudging, heavy, lost woman I had been.  But it is a very informal look, and nowhere near as warm as I usually need it be.  I am cold-blooded, my family claims.  (But then again, they also call me Queen of the Stinky Farts, so what do they know?)

The Aleita Shell is turning out to be a perfect vest. I treasure the drape provided by the silk and the fresh infusion of green into my winter days. I also lovelovelove the fact that I can be warm without wearing a sweater every single day for 8 months.  I am really cold.  I always have been.  The kids can be in T shirts and I’ll be wearing wool socks, slippers, a sweater, a hat, and fingerless mitts…and still my nose is a bit chilly on the tip.  But with the vest on I can – at least sometimes – be warm and still wear some of my shirts.  I can still see my arms.  I love the sweaters I have, but they do see a pretty high rotation, and it just gets old always walking around bundled up.  I love the snappy feel of a cotton shirt with a collar.

Naturally, I’m planning to knit more vests.  In fact, noticing other people’s vests in public and combing the internet for vest patterns is a pleasing hobby I’m developing.  You might even call it an obsession.  There are startlingly few nice vest patterns out there, though.  Hint, hint, designers.

This beaded necklace is making me so happy.  I can’t remember the last time I bought jewelery with gold tones.  It the kind of combination of simple and pretty that softens an all-black outfit.  It’s just a long strand with two larger ends, no clasps at all.  I just tie it as the shop-keeper instructed.

I found it in a tiny tourist trap just off the Elizabeth Bridge in Budapest, the same one where the kids talked me into buying them Rubik’s cubes. (They were invented by a Hungarian – who knew?)  It is handmade and yet I believe it cost me about $2. I wish I’d given into my impulse and bought scads of them. The tiny glittering cores around which the beads are wrapped at the ends are made up of bundled tinfoil. How awesome is that?

Back to vests. Expect a lot about vests once I stop knitting for others’ gifts.  I’ve got my eye on Ticuna and Devon, in particular, although the jaunty v-neck of Leftovers is also calling to me.  If you have your eye on any free vest patterns or anything that can be purchased online, please let me know.  I’m planning to settle into a late winter/early spring bout of vest knitting in an attempt to scratch this itch.