Last week, we talked about how great baby sweaters were as a first sweater project. Vests are good entry projects into sweater knitting as well. You use a lot of the same skills for vest knitting as you do in sweater knitting:

• Ribbing
• Picking up stitches
• Knitting button bands
• Knitting necklines
• Armhole shaping
• Neckline shaping
• Knitting collars

Kelley knit the Calidez Vest this week, which is a super-quick project. This pattern is by Jenjoyce Design, and she provides instructions for knitting the vest in several different weights of yarn. Kelley used Berroco Ultra Alpaca ECO, a worsted-weight yarn. You can also knit the Calidez Vest with a V-neck or a U-neck—lots of choices to customize this project!

Kelley had so many tips for knitting this vest, which she shared in this week's Technique Tuesday. She began with ideas for checking your gauge, and continues with ideas to make your pattern easier to read, using stitch markers to keep track of shaping, joining shoulders with the 3-needle bind-off, and adding a faux seam.

Avoiding the Flare

One of the really interesting things Kelley taught us this week was how to avoid the "flare-out" when binding off ribbing. Jenjoyce tells us to bind off tightly on the button bands, but Kelley came up with a way to avoid the flare and still have a slightly elastic edge.

On the last row before binding off, decrease one stitch every eight to ten stitches. This will decrease the number of stitches, so you won't have the flare when you're done binding off. Kelley used the Icelandic bind-off, which gives a nice, rounded edge.

Please note that this technique is best for button bands or similar front edgings, not for waistbands, cuffs, or neckbands, where you need that elastic edge to pull over your waist, head, and hands.

Cast on a vest and jump into garment knitting!

Cheers,

Kathleen