Yarn Along - More diamonds and a dog (and cat)

I'm joining in Ginny's Yarn Along again this week.  Check it out to see lots of great knitting and books.

There hasn't been much to report over here. Just lots and lots of diamonds in this green heathered yarn that I can't seem to photograph accurately.  I've been remarkably monogamous with this vest project.  I made the back in 12 days, at which point it became remotely possible to finish in time for Dad's birthday, so I've spent every knitting opportunity working on it.

I think I may be able to bind off the front and block the pieces today.  Then the plan will be to sew the seams and have him try it on this weekend when we celebrate his birthday (with a trip to the Rollerderby!  I'm excited for my first derby).  That way I'll know if more work needs to be done before I knit up the bands around the neck and armholes.

I've made this iteration quite a bit smaller than the previous one.  Above is the back with the yarn that used to be part of it but wasn't needed this time.  Below is how much of the front I was able to make with that yarn; almost two pattern repeats.

I think I'll have an entire skein of Encore Worsted left over when I'm done.  Hopefully I haven't made it too small and it will block out exactly right.

In the past day or so I inhaled The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time by Mark Haddon.  I've read this book once before and it went really quickly then, too.  It's one of those that sucks me into the world of the story and the only way to escape is to plow through.  We're reading this in our book club, and I'm looking forward to discussing it this weekend.  Such a different way of seeing the world.