Americano Vest

Here's the completed Americano Vest from the Berroco Chunky & Vintage Chunky Booklet #302. Completed using size 10 needles and Cascade 128 Chunky. It took less than 3 skeins.

Showing my back yoke seam that I kept visible for a "design element!" I am hunching over sort of, don't know why. I thought maybe I was making it look "flatter" that way.

Trying out buttons...after finishing off the edging and blocking.

This image is a photo I took of the project page of "Americano" out of the Berroco Vintage & Vintage Chunky Booklet #302, a lovely vest pattern I fell in love with. All the projects are named after locations in my Seattle area and vicinity. This booklet was my final purchase when my local yarn shop closed this past year. I was unable to find the called for yarn on a recent trip to another yarn shop, so chose a Cascade 128 chunky yarn for this project. It is very soft and felt great working up on a size 10 needle.

This vest is worked in pieces and has some great textures and angles that make it intriguing to work and to seam up. Shown below in pieces being held down by some random objects!

I love the front pieces and the K3tog that makes a nice faux seam up the front, then angles off as you continue in a K2tog.

I chose to do the back yoke seam as a visible seam, because I felt it would be fun to do so, considering all the other texture and seams that are visible in this project.

The edges do curl so blocking is imperative. An edging will be placed around the neckline and buttons will get added. This is turning out to be an adorable vest! I have done the size 38.

A quick and gratifying knit!

With alot of visual interest and angles. I learned that M1K doesn't mean make one, then knit one! I knit this with the memory that some of the time I was working on it was spent as my friend was going through a very hard time in which she lost her husband. I knit some of it while sitting with her mother. I knit some of it after hearing that her mother in law was blessed by my teaching her to knit, so she could knit at the hospital by his bedside and felt as if I were right there with her. In these times I feel knitting is my gift from God. To me, and to others.

Green Day Vest

And here's the finished Green Day Vest -The pattern was free on Ravelry.
Of course I haven't really blocked it yet. I can never wait for that! This vest fit the bill for using my Irish wool. I had been saving this wool since my trip to Dublin Bay Knitting Company a few years ago. Wanting something with cables, just waiting for the right pattern. I thought maybe a vest without sleeves so I wouldn't get too warm. This vest will always remind me of our trip down to Portland, where we discovered the culinary delights of eating out there. And our little trolley trip to the Pearl District with my patient friends, who browsed in a card shop while I bought this yarn. The neckline is deeper than some vests. That could be adjusted by starting later on the neckline decreases. Used size 8 needles for body, size 6 needles for ribbing and my beloved stash of Aran Wool from Kerry Woollen Mills. Modified by adding a nice buttonband to front. I learned the 3- needle bind off method (a link below in my text), and had fun with slipping stitches and passing them over. I do like the one-row button hole for a tidy buttonhole method. (link below in text)

Stages of the Green Day Vest:
Interesting hemline with a twisted knit stitch every third row.


Ribbing across the back is a P2K6. I omitted the called-for side cables from armhole to hem.Working the cable pattern up the front. It's popping out nicely.Showing the piece layed out with the back in the "middle". Stitches are put on hold on the fronts while you work up the back and bind off the armholes and neckline.Neckline stitches are decreased after completing the cable and then fronts are knit upward to "meet" the back. Shoulder seams are made using the 3 needle bind off method. Very easy and very clean way to seam the shoulders.Stitches are picked up around the neckline using size 6 needles. I picked up 120 stitches total. Then worked 8 rows of K2P2 rib, and bound off on WS. Next I picked up 48 stitches for each front buttonband and did 8 rows of K2P2 rib. I made six one row buttonholes 4 stitches apart. These are the nicest finished buttonholes I have ever done. The U-Tube tutorial is easy to follow. Lastly, I will pick up some stitches around the armholes for another little ribbed edge, then get some buttons on and try to block this one a bit! Then it will be time to wear!