The Samosa Vest is marching along quite nicely. I’ve done it entirely ad hoc – no advance planning, no writing anything down (which is refreshingly liberating, for a change). It’s been sort of sculptural, with problems worked out on the fly. Still – there weren’t many. Here are the front and back views:
You can see that I’ve finished the body strips, wrapping the three primary ones around the front. I did some minor shaping on the fourth, to add a bit of of a bust dart to the general shape. Then I filled in two little patches under each arm. After that the front was substantively done. The next step was to pick up and knit the next strip, which outlined the upper back. I continued on from there, until the space in the center became too small for two mitered corners. At that point, I winged it – filling in the center back with a smaller shape, partially contoured with short rows, and a center-back join. The result is rather like a racer back, and is quite flattering on Younger Daughter (modeled pix when done).
I grafted off or picked up and knit the shoulders. Finally I worked an i-cord edging around the entire outer edge to give the body a bit more firmness, and for a more professional finish. It’s much nicer than the flabby chain selvedge edge that was there before.
Now I’ve got one last problem – there’s a Romulan (or Fire Kingdom) point at the top of each armhole. I picked out one side and re-knitted it, but the point remains. Time for some more noodling on possible fixes. Once I’ve got that repair done, it’s i-cord around the armhole edges, and I’m finished.
Suggestions for possible fixes would be most graciously accepted!
String-Or-Nothing 
Hi Kim . The vest looks great . I’d keep the pointed top of the armhole … Looks a bit like a chain mail vest or epaulette . Another possibility is to knit another band across to make a cap sleeve and fit the point in. Refer to
Balmain jacket 2012 .
I assume you’re not considering just embracing your new Romulan nature…
Your strip’s, what, 10 stitches wide? Would decreasing it down to 6, spaced 4 or 6 garter ridges apart, fix the point?
Kim, try decreasing 10-15% of the sts before you bind off that armhole edge. I think that will fix it.
Love this! What a great piece. How pronounced are the shoulder points when on the small one? If not really pronounced…..I rather like them
Thanks all for the excellent tips!
Sadly the points are not attractive on Younger Daughter. She’s blessed with take-no-prisoner shoulders, and the points do nothing positive for them.
I’ve tried reducing stitch count by ripping back and re-knitting, but I’m a bit handicapped by the order in which the strips were added. Ripping back and re-knitting is tricky, but I’ll try it again, this time with a combo of short rows and omitted increases to slim down the top.
Were I in the US, I’d slap the thing on the sewing machine, stitch off a well-reinforced top edge, then cut it like a steek. Then I’d overwork the whole thing in i-cord to disguise the snipped armhole. But that’s not an option here.
Now for a quiet afternoon to perform the surgery…