Cozy Oversized Vest Knitting Pattern

I don’t want to be the one to say it, but the fact remains that summer is almost over, at least if you’re reading the school calendar where I live. Yes, it will probably be warm in a lot of the Northern Hemisphere for a long time to come still, but it’s never too early to start thinking about knits for the fall and winter seasons. Or even better, stitching up things that you can use now and still wear when it’s colder outside.

I think the Oversized Vest with Asymmetrical Front from Cascade Yarns falls into that category. This roomy, boxy vest, designed by Deborah Newton, is worked in wool, so it might be a little warm to wear as a shirt in the height of summer, but it’s a good extra layer for cooler evenings (or buildings) and it will be the perfect extra layer when it’s a little cooler out.

It’s worked from the bottom up in one piece on a long circular knitting needle up to the armholes. it comes in six sizes up to a finished bust measurement of 61.5 inches, and is meant to be worn with 7 to 10 inches of positive ease.

The original used wool yarn, but I think you could use wool or cotton blends with good effect, too. The textured pattern used on the vest is pretty easy to memorize, but the pattern is rated for intermediate knitters.

This pattern is available for free from the Cascade Yarns website.

Need more vest patterns to get you through the transition into fall? I recently collected a few of my favorite vest knitting patterns. Or check out this cute, super simple and fast bulky vest knitting pattern that I made earlier this year. You’ll be happy you took an afternoon to stitch this one up when that first unexpected cold snap hits!

[Photo: Cascade Yarns]

Generally I like knitting patterns where I feel like you can use whatever yarn you have (because my stash is big enough and I want to use it, thanks) and make a successful project. This is one of those times when a special yarn makes the process that much easier.

The Floral Bouquet Shawl from Xandy Peters uses a specific extended color pooling yarn from Feisty Fibers, which allows you to place the bobble flowers with increasing frequency as you knit the project.

It starts with a solid color yarn, then the two color yarn is added in, and you make a bobble whenever you encounter the color pops. This would be hard to replicate with other yarn that doesn’t have the extended color pooling built in.

The background of the shawl is ribbed, making the project reversible.

The shawl uses fingering/sock yarn and comes out to be an asymmetrical triangle that’s 54 inches/137 cm long and 36 inches/ 90 cm deep and 60 inches/150 cm across the top edge.

Xandy says the pattern is for intermediate to advanced knitters. Knowing how to work traditional bobbles would probably help, but there’s a great video tutorial for how to work the floral bobbles so you can practice on other yarn or even incorporate the bobbles into other projects.

The bobbles are five-petaled flowers but they also kind of look like starfish to me, which could be fun on a child’s cardigan or other pattern. They’d also be fun on the leg of a sock or around the brim of a hat for extra whimsy.

The pattern includes photo and video tutorials, and written and charted instructions. It also includes tips on what to look for if you choose to use different yarn for the project, and instructions on how to dye your own yarn to use in the project.

If you want to give it a try, you can find the pattern on Ravelry.

[Photo: Xandy Peters]

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