red vest, red rocks

Mountain Man and I hiked up towards Cathedral rocks the other day.  It's been a favorite late afternoon outing this month -- strolling along the red dirt trails, keeping our eyes on the thunder clouds, heading down to Oak Creek for a dip, watching the sunset from high up on the rocks. And, of course, taking knitting photos!  (apologies about the color, by the way; it got all oddly red-saturated in the sun)

So, here I am with the latest on my red sweater.  I divided for the front and back, shaping the armscyes with a few decreases along the outer edge and shaping the scooped neckline (front and back) with short rows.  I grafted together the shoulder stitches, then picked up stitches all around the neck to knit a collar in 1x1 ribbing. 

Last thing I did was to pick up stitches along the front openings and knit a button band in 1x1 ribbing.  I've, shall we say, had some issues with it.  Difficulties figuring out the precise number of stitches, since the ribbing creates such a stretchy fabric (even now, I think I'm going to rip these both out and re-knit them).  Difficulties figuring out how to do a perfectly tidy vertical buttonhole in the ribbing.  

Oh well.  I was very pleased with how the neckline and the back scoop came out (And I do promise that the back stretches further towards my shoulders than it looks here -- the sides are curling under, and when I lifted my arms to tie my hair in a knot it pulled the fabric inwards). 

Anyways. Still outstanding issues with the finishing, but I'm pleased with the overall construction thus far.  Now I need to figure out how to shape the sleevecaps, with the help of my trusty 1980s edition of the Vogue Knitting book (I'm old school like that) and it will be turned into an actual cardigan!