This design from Elsebeth Lavold in the Fall 2003 issue of Knitters has become one of the projects I am most proud of. Sometimes you just know you execute something correctly. That's the way I feel about this vest.

It'd been a while since I had done much with cables, and this project was a perfect return to the genre. I think the sparing use of the motif makes the project very visually attractive. It also meant that most of this process was fast knitting. It's not a project that's going to come together in a weekend, but it is a project that can come together in a few weeks.

Because the body of the vest is done in reverse stockinette, my only real deviation from the pattern was to add a stockinette selvedge stitch to the edges of all the pieces. This simplified the seaming for me. I also changed the spacing on the button holes a little bit from the pattern since they didn't seem to extend far enough down the vest with the spacing measurement as given.

This pattern was a joy to knit through. The instructions were clear and I found no glaring errors in the size that I did (the small). I had fun watching how the short-rowing worked out. A little reading ahead and a lot of counting are required to make this come out correctly -- but it's worth the effort.

The Jaeger Matchmaker is a fine substitution for the Debbie Bliss Merino DK. I did find it to be a little bit splitty. I don't know if that is because it is a washable wool or if there are other factors. The splitting added a little to the need to pay attention to the cabling component of the vest.

This was definitely one of those projects that was worth the effort and the care to make it come out well. It will certainly become a staple in my winter vest wardrobe. I'm extremely pleased with the fit and all the details.