I managed to sort out the shoulders the other night on my Nightingale which, in the end, was really quite painless since I could clearly see where I had gone wrong.
Some of you might notice I didn’t bother with the kitchener seam on the back neck, as I really couldn’t bear the idea of having to do it again, so just did a simple 3 needle bind off.
Here are two funny things –
1. I only realised a couple night ago (from looking up other examples of the arm edgings) that my buttonband is actually narrower than it is supposed to be by about half and I hadn’t noticed until now! Oops.
2. Oh, and remember the first row of bells that I had screwed up and was bemoaning ages ago?
I completely forgot all about it after that post and no longer see it anymore. The only thing that jogged my memory was seeing the post on the tag list. How funny is that?? Hah!
It just goes to show that all the (k)nitpicking is for nowt (as my darling Scots would say. I spent a weekend with the in-laws recently and my speech is still peppered with lovely little brogue-ish things!).
I had to take advantage of the relatively warm day today and blocked the vest first thing and laid it in the sun so it would dry quickly. I am really pleased that the lace alpaca strand bloomed beautifully! How pretty are the fuzzy bells?
It is amazing how much one tiny strand of alpaca can add so much to a project!
The Phildar wool/nylon on it’s own was frankly somewhat unpleasant as it contains 30% nylon and feels rather lifeless (it is STRONG though). Adding the 2ply baby alpaca completely transformed the fabric. It is now silky and has a bit of drape along with all that lovely bloom.
(I love this alpaca and am definitely adding it to my dyeing bases. It dyes up with the most beautiful shimmer and will make gorgeous shawls! And now that I know what adding it to other yarns can do I will be using it for everything!)
Only buttonband/buttons left to sort out on my little Silver Bells so nearly, nearly there…
From the Purl Side 
it’s absolutely beautiful! and certainly worth all the fiddly bits! love the alpaca too, it looks soft as a cloud!
Thanks Lori. The alpaca makes it, really. It is so baby soft! I am very pleased with it so far and just want to make sure I get the buttons perfect now!
Hi, I am about to start knitting this pattern without the original pattern, I worked out how to do the bells. Can you give me any tips on how you went about the decreasing along the neckline?
Honestly, I haven’t the slightest clue at this point. It was ages ago and I just remember having done it…not how. ;-P Sorry Maria. I need to keep better notes on my Rav.