Vest woes

Let me start by saying that I would probably be better off right now working on things like shawls, blankets, hats, mittens...you know things that are actually compatible with the body of a woman who is 7 months pregnant. I do have the advantage that I've made/I own several sweaters that fit my not-pregnant body well, but there are times that it would be simpler if I could just put what I'm making ON. The prime example being the nearly finished but zipperless Samus cardigan that I have no use for until at least October.

But my current yarny fever seems to be all about sweaters and vests, with only a mild interest in crocheted blankets, so I just seem to keep going with the things I can't wear.

I've got two things on the needles right now. I'm working on Bristow in my solo silk from Brooks Farm and so far it is turning out spectacularly. I can't know for sure since I can't put it on, but it looks comparable in size to things in my closet.

The other is this vest (pictured above) from Vogue Knitting Fall 2005. Consider the pattern really as a jumping off point. 1 - I'm not doing the body in ribbing because I'm using 100% alpaca, which doesn't hold ribbing well. 2 - I'm going to put an i-cord under the fair isle to emphasize the smallest part of my waist. 3 - I'm going to knit the whole thing in one piece and steek the openings. 4 - I was hoping to do the fair isle in just two colors (chocolate and oatmeal). 5 - I'm using a 100% alpaca in DK weight while the pattern calls for a heavier yarn in a wool blend.

My primary concern is that I just finished the first hank of chocolate brown yarn. I have 8" of body done, and I need to do 11" to get to the fair isle section. I was going to do the ribbed edging in the chocolate, too. I can do some math and weighing, but I'm just really not sure that it will be enough. And if I steek, there is no going back.

I'm considering:
- washing the body of the vest that is done so far to see if it grows in length (I did wash my swatch, but I didn't measure it before I washed it. Although I guess I could compare the row gauge of the washed swatch to the row gauge of the unwashed knitting...)
- working the fair isle back and forth so it would be possible to rip back if I run out of chocolate yarn.
- calling the alpaca farm to see about getting more chocolate yarn. (I was just being too thrifty while I was shopping)
- adding a third color to the fair isle pattern in order to need less chocolate yarn. (Pro - add more color to the sweater and I have a lovely pink angora blend that could work well, Con - vest is less neutral and might go with fewer shirts)
- weighing the knitting, weighing the skeins and counting the stitches I've knit so far to do some more advanced knitting math and see what's really possible. I enjoy being a "figure it out as I go" knitter most of the time, but I don't think that's a wise path this time.

When I'm not obsessed with things for me, I'm on the lookout for a good spring/summer hat pattern for baby-yet-to-be-named and I'm pondering a crocheted blanket for him made with these squares in either a sock yarn or Cotton Fine.