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]

When I discovered Kate Atherley’s book Circular Knitting for Beginners and Beyond, I wasn’t sure there was enough to say about circular knitting to fill a book. It’s a pretty short book (144 pages) and includes 10 patterns to practice working in the round on small projects, and it provides a decent introduction to the various ways of working in the round.

The book covers using double pointed knitting needles, flexible double points and circular knitting needles with cables. It talks about working using the full circumference of a circular needle and various ways to work smaller circumference projects, such as using DPNs, magic loop and knitting with two circular knitting needles.

In addition there’s a discussion of preventing problems like twists and ladders, swatching in the round without actually swatching in the round, grafting, blocking and weaving in ends.

More specialized techniques likes knitting from the center out, stranded colorwork, helical knitting and jogless stripes are also explored, as well as working pieces like socks or mitts two at a time.

There’s also some information about seamless sweaters, including the different sweater designs that can be worked seamlessly (and why you might want seams in your sweaters) and how they are worked from the top down or the bottom up.

There are 10 patterns in the book, including a basic stockinette stitch cowl and one with a deliberate twist, wrist warmers, mitts and a pair of colorwork mittens, a hat worked in a solid color or in helical stripes, toe up and top down socks and a beret. It would have been nice to have a basic sweater pattern, too, since the book does talk about working larger garments with circular needles, but it’s still a nice collection of basic patterns worked in the round.

If you’re already comfortable working in the round in different ways, I’m not sure there’s much for you to learn in this book, but it is a good reference for people learning circular knitting or who maybe haven’t tried all the techniques yet or need skill building projects to try.

About the book: 144 pages, paperback, 10 patterns. Published 2026 by David & Charles. Suggested retail price $24.99.

Have you read?