Finished Object: The Color Block Vest

I’ve wanted to knit suit for a while. The process was a little intimidating so I opted to make the smallest piece first. A vest. The complete suit will have a skirt, the vest, and a jacket.

Instead of trying to find a pattern that matched what I saw in my mind, I took the plunge and created a vest and skirt of my own design. I went super simple and made the vest in rectangular pieces with a simple cable as the focal point. I created texture using stockinette, reverse stockinette, and 2×2 ribbing, super simple.

The Deets

Yarn: Universal Deluxe Worsted Naturals, 2 skeins of Cream #40005, and 2 skeins of Warm Brown #40001

Needles: 4.5 mm

What I Learned from this Project

I learned that I could design a garment for myself from scratch. I had some
trepidation, but I love the way it turned out. I enjoy designs that include both color and texture. Color blocking was my solution for having both color and texture. I knew I didn’t want to do intarsia.

I thought that working in centimeters would give me more accurate measurement to work from. I didn’t know how wedded to imperial measurements I was until I attempted to work this project in metric measurements. I spent a lot of time converting back to imperial just so I could understand the size of each section. Going forward, I’m going to stick with imperial measurements.

What I’d Do Differently

I’d check the label on each skein of yarn, even if it came out of the same bag. I got one skein from a different dye lot and I had to rip out the section I knit with that skein. That skein was a completely different color than the others in the same bag.

Costs

Yarn: 4 skeins @ $9 per skein

Hear all about the making of Color Block Vest in episode 122 of Three of Skeins Knit & Crochet Podcast.