Easy Vest Knitting Patterns

This time of year I tend to get a little obsessed with the idea of knitting vests. While I’m still deep into wearing sweaters, I’m starting to think about layers for warmer weather (or wearing a vest under my sweater for a little extra warmth on the super cold days, not going to lie).

Vests are a great gateway to knitting sweaters because they use some of the same skills but you don’t have to knit sleeves. Which, let’s be honest, are pretty boring. If you’ve never knit a sweater before, try one of these easy vest knitting patterns to get you started.

The Abrazo Slipover from Caidree on Etsy is a great basic super bulky vest that you can probably stitch up in a weekend. It comes in nine sizes and has 5-10 cm of positive ease built in.

Kara Eng’s Funfetti Vest is another super bulky option that has rounds of purl ridges that can be worked in a contrasting color or you can do it all in the same color if you don’t have scraps to use. It’s available in nine sizes. You can get the pattern on Ravelry.

Vest No. 3, Spring Edition from My Favourite Things Knitwear uses a combination of lace and DK weight yarns to make a super bulky gauge. It’s worked from the top down with a little shaping for the neckline and arm openings. It’s available in five sizes and the pattern is in English, Danish and Norwegian. You can get it on Ravelry.

If you’re looking for a lighter weight vest, the Vest 01 from Daisy And Peace is worsted weight vest worked flat in pieces from the bottom up. It comes in six sizes and you can download the pattern from Ravelry.

How about an open vest? These are so cute over a button-down shirt and can be belted or worn open. The long Autumn Vest by Merri Fromm is worked mostly in ribbing, and it is available in four sizes. You can download the pattern from Blue Sky Fibers.

Here’s another one that uses ribbing as a design feature and has deep armholes for ease of wearing. The part below the armholes is worked in the round. It uses worsted weight yarn and comes in five sizes. You can get it from Warm House on Etsy in English and Dutch.

Casual Knits Studio on Etsy has a great classic vest pattern worked in chunky yarn with deep armholes so it’s easy to layer it over just about anything. It’s worked from the bottom up in two pieces and then the ribbing is worked after it is sewn together. The pattern comes in three sizes and is available in English, French and German.

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Not too long ago I did a test knit for another designer that was for a cabled cardigan. It’s really cozy and nice but it just about broke me in a ton of different ways. I couldn’t get gauge, which I suppose is my own problem, but mainly I was somehow both bored and forced to pay attention at the same time.

Because it used the same cable all over, I always had to know what row I was on, but nine out of ten of those rows, nothing in particular was going on. So I couldn’t stop paying attention, but what I needed to attend to was boring.

It may have ruined me for knitting cabled sweaters, but maybe I just need something that’s more engaging. Like this Modern Aran Cardigan pattern from Lion Brand Yarn.

This is a reworking of an old pattern from their archives, and you can tell that form the classic look of the cables and the oversized feel (nothing cropped about this one!). It has allover cables, but like a classic Aran sweater it’s not the same cable, so you’ll have to pay attention to what row you’re on and what cable turns happen for which cables on that row.

Because of this, it’s considered an intermediate knitting pattern, but if you’re comfortable working from multiple charts at once it shouldn’t be a problem for you. There are three different charts and seven different cable moves.

Also because the pattern is so big and boxy there are only two sizes available, with a finished chest measurement of either 49 or 63 inches (that’s 124.5 or 160 cm). It’s up to you to decide how much ease you would like and whether that will work for your body.

The pattern uses worsted weight yarn (and calls for another classic, Lion Brand Fisherman’s Wool). It calls for six buttons and includes pockets to make it extra cozy.

This one looks like a great winter project to make and to wear if you’re up for a bit of a challenge. You can grab the free pattern or buy a kit with the yarn needed direct from Lion Brand Yarn.

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]

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