So the yarn dyeing was fantastic! I snagged 8 oz of some variegated fuschia from the yarn we dyed on Monday, and this is what I had by the end of the plane ride home on Sunday:
Originally, the project began as a bag I would felt, but then I decided it was so pretty, I wanted to wear it unfelted, but I didn't have enough to make a full sweater, so that's how the vest idea came about. Also, the width was too small, and I was too lazy to rip the whole thing apart and start over, so I came up with the brilliant idea of leaving it too small and dealing with it later.
So the fix? Well, I plan to cut it down the middle and sew in a zipper. I was hoping I'd have enough yarn to knit the center bands, but I think I might actually have to do it with fabric. The second picture shows the stitches I picked up on the front left side. So what's left to do is knitting the armhole edgings (to be done in garter stitch like the bottom edging), picking up stitches on the right front side, finding a suitable fabric and zipper, and sewing those on. Oh, and weaving in the ends and finishing and all that stuff.