Once I knew my stitch and row counts, I could assign different bands of the vest to different colorway combinations, which would allow me to figure out how often I needed to change colorways so that I could use up as much of the yarn as possible.

Attempt #1

Starting at the shoulder and working toward the bottom edge, I assigned ten rows to colors E and A held together, then ten to A and B, ten to B and C, ten to C and D, ten to D and E, then started the whole sequence over again. I do twenty rows of each color, but the starting points of the two colors are offset by ten rows, so that I never change both colors at the same time.

Then I counted how many stitches were worked with each color:

• Color A: 19,173
• Color B: 17,337
• Color C: 14,847
• Color D: 14,328
• Color E: 16,871

This arrangement gave too great a difference between the most-used and least-used color. I realized that because the vest has a V-neck, the color bands above the underarms will have many fewer stitches than those between the underarms and bottom edges, so I needed to start each new color sooner.

(Note that the above stitch counts total 82,556, since each stitch uses two colors. Dividing that number by 2 gives me the number of stitches in the vest: 41,278.)

Attempt #2

Since twenty-row blocks were too tall, I switched to twelve-row blocks. The colors would continue to pair EA, AB, BC, CD, DE repeatedly, but I would switch one of the two strands every six rows. These stitch counts resulted, with the percentage of stitches using that color in parentheses:

• Color A: 17,085 (21%)
• Color B: 17,182 (21%)
• Color C: 17,055 (21%)
• Color D: 15,565 (19%)
• Color E: 15,669 (19%)

This distribution was better, but I wondered if even shorter bands would improve matters.

Attempt #3

Each color was used for eight rows at a time, with the offset colors shifted by four rows. I would change one yarn every other right-side row. This set of stitch counts was

• Color A: 17,207 (21%)
• Color B: 17,112 (21%)
• Color C: 16,393 (20%)
• Color D: 15,491 (19%)
• Color E: 16,353 (20%)

Decisions, Decisions

Clearly, solution #1 is out. But whether solution #2 or #3 is better is hard to say. It would be less work to change colors every twelve rows rather than every eight rows, so that’s what I’ll do.

Color Assignments

Now I needed to figure out the order of the colorways. Here’s the picture again, with the hanks arranged in a good order to make a fade:

But since I’ll be holding two different strands together throughout, the idea of a fade more or less disappears. So I started looking at the colors to see how they would play against each other when paired with one another.

The darkest colorway is Goddess, and the lightest is Berry Smoothie. The other three are about the same as far as overall tone goes, as is clear in this grayscale version of the previous pic:

Even though Ashland, Turkish Delight, and Sweet Home are similar in tone, Turkish Delight is much more saturated—brighter—than the other two. That suggests that I could hold Turkish Delight with either, or both, of Ashland and Sweet Home, and also that I should not hold Ashland and Sweet Home with each other.

Goddess and Ashland are both what I think of as true purples, neither bluish nor reddish. Sweet Home is a reddish purple. That suggests that I should not hold Goddess and Ashland together. The pinks of Turkish Delight both appear, though in limited degree, in both Ashland and Sweet Home, suggesting that putting Turkish Delight between Ashland and Sweet Home would make a nice sequence.

Taking the above limitations into account, my order thus far is

• Ashland
• Turkish Delight
• Sweet Home
• Goddess

Since I don’t want Ashland and Goddess held together, I need to put Berry Smoothie at one end of the list (which end doesn’t matter, since the color cycle will start again from the beginning):

• Ashland
• Turkish Delight
• Sweet Home
• Goddess
• Berry Smoothie

The sequence could also run in the opposite order:

• Berry Smoothie
• Goddess
• Sweet Home
• Turkish Delight
• Ashland

Start the Sequence Where?

The next question is, Which two colors do I want at the shoulders?

Since colors D and E are used in slightly fewer stitches than colors A, B, and C when I use each color for twelve rows, I should weigh the hanks and see if any are significantly lighter than the others. If so, then the lightest two should be colors D and E, as long as I can keep one of the two color sequences.

The hanks weigh

• Ashland: 103.47 g
• Turkish Delight: 103.66 g
• Sweet Home: 106.53 g
• Goddess: 105.00 g
• Berry Smoothie: 103.49 g

Since three of the hanks are about 103 g, I can make any two of them D and E, with the two heaviest being either A and B, or else B and C.

If I run short, I do have the 10-g samples of all five colorways from the Hawthorne co-op.

The Final Choice

After futzing around with the hanks, I’ve decided on the following colorway assignments:

• A: Goddess
• B: Sweet Home
• C: Turkish Delight
• D: Ashland
• E: Berry Smoothie

This order means I’ll cast on at the tops of the shoulders with Berry Smoothie and Goddess.

The chart is in working orientation, with the CO at the bottom and the BO at the top, rather than in wearing orientation. That means the shoulders are at the bottom and the vest’s lower edge is at the top.

Time to wind the yarn and cast on!!!!