Knit a Simple Striped Vest

This pretty vest pattern has stripes that are different in both color and texture, which makes the knitting and the wearing of it a bit more fun. The Linden vest pattern by Noriko Ho was originally designed for the Puget Sound LYS Tour and was the featured knit pattern for The Fiber Gallery. Now it’s available for wider purchase and I think this will be a great project for transitioning into fall (or spring, as the case may be where you live).

The original design uses two different DK weight yarns. One is a pretty smooth superwash merino, while the other is a fuzzy blend of alpaca, cotton and merino. This gives the pattern stripes of texture as well as color without having to do any more work on your part.

Of course you could also make it all smooth, or all fuzzy, or even forgo the stripes and make a solid colored version in whatever kind of yarn you like or have on hand. Maybe you’ll want multiple versions of this simple V-neck vest. I know I probably would.

The pattern is worked flat in pieces from the bottom up. The design is meant to be cropped, but of course you can add more length if you prefer. It’s also intended to be worked with zero to 4 inches of negative ease for a snug fit.

It comes in nine sizes, ranging from a chest measurement of 30.5 inches to 62.5 inches (that’s 77 to 159 centimeters for our metric system friends).

You can get a copy of the pattern on Ravelry.

Looking for more vest patterns? Check out this collection of easy vest knitting patterns, or here’s another roundup I did a few years ago of fun vest knitting patterns. Or just search for vests in the search bar at the top right of the page and you will find a bunch of individual patterns I’ve written about through the years as well!

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]

Have you read?