Welcome to Project Knitway or should I say Project Renottaway? It's my cyberspace place to post my favorite things...thoughts about family and creativity and design. One of my favorite things is making stuff, specifically clothing and accessories from fiber and metal. So you'll see a lot about that here. I also love spending time with my family, so there will be a bit about that too. When I'm not with my family or in my studio, I am most likely at nextdoor, my store. I have always had a store ever since I was a young woman. I started with a weaving store called the niddy noddy in Waukesha eons ago. I ended with nextdoor in Brookfield. It's my dream store filled with great clothing, especially denim. Really nice women work and shop there, it's a fun place to be. You can find us there every day and online at www.shopatnextdoor.com So come for a visit here and there.

Sunday, January 16, 2011

Pattern for Simplvest

Sally B requested a pattern for hand knitting this vest, so here goes. I used 2 skeins of Lion Brand Homespun yarn, but it would probably make sense to have three skeins on hand. You can always use the left over for a matching hat or small scarf. I plugged the manufacturer's gauge measurements into my pattern.  They suggest using size 10 needles. My piece measures about 22 inches wide by 48 inches long. Start by casting on 80 stitches and knitting 106 rows of stockinette stitch. At row 106, put the left half of the stitches (40 sts)on hold by slipping the stitches onto a stitch holder. Knit 70 rows on the right half and put these stitches "on hold". Go back and pick up the stitches from the left onto your needles and knit these 70 rows. Now put all 80 stitches back on your needles, knit to row 240 and bind off.Fold the piece in half and hand sew the side seams together leaving armhole openings of about 10 inches. I put my vest together with the pearl side out and taking advantage of the natural tendency of the knitting to roll at the neckline and armholes. The gauge for this pattern is about 3.5sts/" and 5r's/". So if you want to make your vest wider or longer simply add on the extra stitches or rows. You may want to refer back to one of my earlier blogs where I discuss gauge. In the blogs ahead I will talk about creative touches you can add to your vest to make it your own. Thanks Sally. Have fun and stick to your knitting.

Renotta