Well, I’ve finally finished this vest. . . it was meant to be a jacket but I didn’t like how the sleeves looked on it. But it is really comfortable and fun as a vest.
The base yarn for this vest is knit in garter stitch swatches in yarn I bought in Ireland 6 years ago. I love how it feels, durable and warm. I think I have enough left to knit a “regular” sweater.
I started this vest during the 2008 summer Olympics. . . yup. . . I started it that long ago but it is done! (Unless I add sleeves to it)
The buttons are from a box of buttons that my mom gave me. . .I think they are some kind of animal horn or wood. . . all I know is that they are not plastic.
The button band and collar are knt in Lamb’s Pride yarn from Brown Sheep. I knit the sleeves out of that too but they didn’t turn out how I wanted. I tried to make champagne glass shaped color pattern for the sleeves. But they are too bulky.
I had so much fun crocheting the little circles. . .white in the center and pastel colors on the outside! Except one day I did too many and got a cramp in my thumb!
Lovely vest! Did you use a pattern for this free-form vest ?
Thank you for sharing.
Cheryl Jaeger
Hey Cheryl,
To create this vest, I knit lots of different shapes in the white wool (I call it the base) and then I crocheted lots of little circles and sewed them onto the base. I crocheted trim on the base pieces.
Out of a paper bag I cut and pasted a pattern the shape of the vest I wanted. (So you could say I used a pattern). As I finished decorating the different base pieces I would lay them out on the paper pattern. This is the hardest part for me. I keep rearranging the pieces to find a look I like. When I’ve got the pieces in a general area of where I want them I start hand sewing the pieces together. Where they don’t fit together perfectly I crochet on the edges of the pieces. Hope this gives you an idea of my process. I wish I had more time for freeform. This vest took about 80 hours.
Gorgeous!