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!

One of the fun things about knitters is that we will use a holiday theme on any kind of project. From Easter bunny socks to Christmas sweaters, there’s no combination of holiday motif and knitwear genre we won’t combine.

Case in point: Halloween cowls.

This fun cowl from Sweet Vireo Designs features large carved pumpkins and little cats and skulls. It uses two colors of DK weight yarn and I love the multicolored yarn for the background color on this one. And the braids! So cute.

Spooky Season by Jocelyn Tunney (also on Ravelry) uses fingering weight yarn in two colors to make a design with crescent moons and eyes. There are two circumferences and two heights available so you can make it a neck hugger or a slightly bigger project if you like.

Make more moons with the Broom Riding Cowl from Vanessa Ewing Knits. This two color pattern looks extra fun with a multicolored yarn for the colorwork, but you can use a solid as well. It calls for DK weight yarn but there is also a fingering weight version if you have some yarn in your stash you want to use.

Jinx Made has another fun Halloween cowl, this time covered in skulls. South Philly Skulls uses DK weight yarn and comes in two lengths, and there’s also a matching hat pattern, both of which can be found on Ravelry.

The Ghost Stories cowl from Melissa Knit Wear is a two-color cowl with ghosts of different sizes on the body. It uses DK weight yarn, and average sized skeins will allow you to get two cowls out of two skeins. It also calls for stitch markers to help you keep your place in the chart.

Or stitch up a cowl with a giant bat on it. The Nightling Cowl from Jen Immer uses DK weight yarn in two colors and has moons and a large bat on it. This pattern can be found on Ravelry.

How about spooky trees? The Weirwood Cowl from Andrea Krüß-Anders is inspired by the weirwood trees in the Game of Thrones books, and is worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry.

If a bandana cowl is more your thing, try Cowloween from Tellybean Knits (on Ravelry). This colorful design is worked from the top down and features pumpkins, ghosts and candy colored stripes, and is worked in a light fingering weight yarn. There are kid and adult sizes available.

Have you read?