love the deep legende ribbing, the colour looks gorgeous! I'm interested to see how the fandango goes, i've got a couple of skeins knocking around that i dont really know what to do with. i think i'll watch you and get some inspiration for a while.

On the random stripe thing--

You could write numbers on scraps of paper and draw them out of your knitting bag, then knit that many rows of your next color. And then repeat the number drawing as needed.

You could also add a second collection of scraps of paper, each of these marked with a yarn color. Before each new stripey section you'd draw one from each bag, then do what it said.

This may, of course, be more futzing around than you want...:)

Good luck, tho. The ribbing is gorgeous.

WOW! You are working those vests! So glad to see some more of that Legende. Speaking of which, I got leftovers. As I'm sending you a snail mail shortly, should I include some?

Isn't the fandango a dream to work with!
I just finished a scarf with some in the "frangipani" colorway and I was really pleased with the way it knitted up.

fandango--sooo very pretty!

how bout doing some swatches and seeing which you like best? Be random on the small swatches and then copy it for the vest.

Perhaps you could use dice to get a random number? Determine the color sequence and knit as many rows as the dice rolls. Or roll once for color and once for rows. Or if you have access to role playing dice, use d6 and d20 alternatively. One for the color (if you have 6 colors, for example) and the other for the rows. Or use two ordinary dice and add the sums, like 2+5=7 rows.

Or if complete randomness is really, really not 'you', what about Fibonacci numbers? Nice and orderly, but can appear random with a bit of planning.

You could use the Fibonacci method for stripes. They look random but are actually very planned!
http://www.fuzzygalore.biz/articles/fibonacci_seq.shtml

For your random stripes, you could use some graph paper and colored pencils and work out the randomness that way before you knit and rip and knit and rip to get a pleasing arrangement. Would save time I think although you're such a speedy knitter that may not be true.

Oh, Alison! It looked GREAT to me. Look through some books, mags and catalogs for stripey stuff. Find one you like and take it from there. Fandango, your mom is gonna tango!

If its any consolation, I finished off the black and white sweater last night and decided that it was about 8 inches too wide!!!!! So I've scrapped the whole thing and now I'm replanning so that I can use the extra yarn to get some SLEEVES! Maybe a v neck.

Try the fibonacci thing for the stripes. You don't have to actually do teh progressively bigger thing the way I was - you can alternate using the same number of rows. Read up on it - its interesting.

Thanks everyone for your ideas for "random" stripes. I think using dice is a bit too random for me and the Fibonacci thing is way cool with two colors (like in your sweater, Gina), but I've got five colors. And because I have such varying amounts of the five colors (some only 1/2 skein, others 2 1/2 skeins!), I think it would be dangerous to try to make up or borrow any set pattern, lest I run out of yarn and can't finish it properly. So, I'm gonna stick with randomizing color and width of stripes and just eyeball it to see what I like best. I ripped what I had yesterday, because I decided I want thinner stripes overall. I may try your idea, Charlotte, of sketching out a few stripes ahead, just so I can see what might be best to use next.

I haven't done much with the Fandango, but it feels pretty fun to work with. It's soft at least and the big gauge is a nice change for my hands.

Yipes Stripes! You did not believe me when I said they looked good, eh? Well, you are the one who has to live with it. Stripe on, my friend! Good luck with it.:)