Knit a Vest with Cockatoo Charm

There’s something about projects with big, bold designs that makes me smile. Even if the subject matter isn’t necessarily something I’d want to commit to knitting, I appreciate the enthusiasm behind knitting an animal or your favorite food on a sweater.

In the case of the Cockatoo round neck vest from Annie Reilly, the subject in question is a showy bird. Fun fact: cockatoos are part of the parrot family, and most cockatoo species are either black or white because their feathers lack a texture that causes other birds’ feathers to reflect light, making them look different colors (thanks for that tidbit, San Diego Zoo!).

The vest features a cockatoo sitting on a branch that covers most of the front, along with some branches running up the side of the vest. In this case it’s an Australian pink cockatoo, so not entirely white, and it is showing off its crest. The colorwork is done with intarsia, using different balls of yarn for each of the colors across the row, and the pattern is worked from a chart.

The back of the vest is solid colored mostly stockinette stitch, which gives you a break from all the action on the front.

The project calls for DK weight yarn in eight colors, but some you only need a little bit of (black, gray, red and yellow) to incorporate all the details.

It comes in three sizes, ranging in chest measurement from 39.5 to 47.5 inches or 100 to 120 cm, so it’s meant to be worn with a fair bit of ease.

The pattern is based off one the designer made in the 1980s that was published in a book she co-authored in 1989. This version has been revamped with the round neck and some adjustments to the colorwork.

You can find this pattern on Ravelry. It’s perfect for any bird lover you know!

[Photo: Annie Riley]

Knit a Super Simple Vest

Long Cabled Vest – Free Knitting Pattern

Easy Vest Knitting Patterns

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

Have you read?