On the fitting of vests and downsizing

Thank you for all your compliments about the vest. I tried it on my husband and it fit him better than the last vest I made. When I was knitting this vest, people were surprised about how narrow and small it looked. Of course that was partly because of the broken rib pattern which pulls in. But even accounting for that, it seemed too small to those who knew my husband's size. Well, the last vest I made him was too big. Men's vests aren't like sweaters. They need to fit under things and therefore need a lot less ease than a sweater. In fact, I think they need negative to no ease. The armholes need to be cut in more all around, and one has to take the bands into consideration. So the shoulders always look too narrow till the bands are done. I forgot these basics on that last vest, since I had not made him a vest a long time. I made him one a few years ago that hangs over his shoulders and is too long and too wide. I have to rip it out and re-knit it one of these days. Fortunately, I remembered that gaffe this time and didn't make the same mistake twice.

I haven't knitted a lot this week. I started the Wild Apple Bohus on Sunday but haven't knit much. I am on the boring neck band part. However, I don't want to start the colorwork till my new Knitpicks Harmony needles arrive. I need a 2.25 mm needle for the colorwork as my stranded gauge is looser than my single color gauge. I use a 2.5 mm for the single color body. My only 2.25 mm circs are from Crystal Palace and they are not nice. The yarns catch in the join. I didn't enjoy knitting the Red Palm on them so ordered KP Harmony fixed circs to use. I also ordered the Swan, the last of my much coveted Bohus patterns. I'm done with buying Bohus kits. I have all the patterns I've drooled over since I bought Poems of Color way back when.

I have been reading a book called 'How to Survive your Diet' by Linda Moran. In conjunction with The Beck Diet Solution, I am working on forgetting about dieting and becoming a normal eater. I have gone through decades of dieting and not dieting, but there has been one thing in common all those years. Food was always been front and center. Both these books are based on cognitive therapy and what I'm working on is to think about food when I'm hungry and stop thinking about it at all other times. I am an emotional eater, even when I'm eating 'normally' and what I want to do is break that connection. The downsizing in this case refers to portion size. Linda advocates giving up greed - greed to be thin, greed for food, etc. and also focusing on the fact that stress is tolerable. Judith Beck has a whole program on keeping one's diet goals front and center. I've been working with the Beck Diet Solution program since last summer but I've reshaped the self-talk to focus on normal eating rather than on dieting.