Block, Sew, Wear?

The needles have been quite busy as the summer calendar turned to post Labor Day thinking about autumnal temperatures.  There was a cool breeze one evening and that was all that I needed to finish up "stuff."

 Here are the pieces of the vest that first hit the needles a month ago.   Notice that the back piece has no arm hole shaping.  The entire arm hole is created by an extension of the front piece. 

It was hard for me to conceptualize during the actual knitting.  Then, in what can only be described as a flash of brilliance, I looked at the schematic.  There is a reason that designers provide that little measured drawing.  Just sayin'

The front pieces also include collar extensions that bring the cable work around to the back.  This is all fine and dandy and I do understand how to sew it all together.  But I'm just not sure that I want to sew it all together.  According to the pattern, I am to bind off the cables and then sew a seam.  A seam - right in the middle of the back collar.   A seam - that tends to make a firm line right where the reverse stockinette section is designed to curl and roll toward to big fat chunky cable.

Seems that a seam will cause all manner of havoc on that nice rolling part and make what should be soft into something not soft and and not so curly.  HMM.

Even in this photo of the unblocked front, it is easy to see how that reverse stockinette curls toward the cable. 

Me thinks a bit of grafting across the RSS and then across the cable will be much more pleasing.  So, the plan for this morning is to graft first, sew second, wash third and finally wear on the next cool evening.