Silver Lake Vest

This vest is knit bottom up, in the round with 3 steeks (2 for the armholes and 1 for the v-neck). The steeks are secured with a crochet edge, and then cut. Shetland wool is magical and doesn’t have to be secured before cut, but I love the decorative finish of the crocheted edge. Use a decorative color you love for the crocheted edge. The stitches for the v-neck and the armholes are picked up with a smaller than gauge needle , and knit in the round. I like to use a needle 2 sizes smaller than the gauge-size needle for the ribbing. Use Shetland wool for this vest! Use my colors or choose colors that remind you of home. I can’t wait to see what you do with this vest! I would love to hear your color story.

A dear friend once told me if you can learn to carry home in your pocket, you will never be homesick. I knit this vest for my youngest son for Christmas when he was far from home. His favorite color is green. He wouldn’t be home until the next Christmas, so I wanted send home to him for Christmas and to be with him for the next year. I went to the mountains near our home and walked around Silver Lake. Silver Lake is a small lake in Big Cottonwood Canyon. When our kids were little, we often would walk around the lake on Sundays, and take watercolors and a picnic. We had a favorite boulder that we could all fit on, and we’d paint the lake or flowers or a moose wading in the water. That lake reminds me of our family in every season. I went on a walk around Silver Lake and gathered leaves and grass and pine needles. I wanted to gather the colors of home. This vest has the pine trees, the sky, the aspen trees in the fall, the golden grass, the early snow on Sunset Peak, the bark on the bare trees and that perfect green for the sagebrush of the high desert mountains of Utah. He would recognize these hues from home, and I hoped that this vest would help him carry home with him into the big wide world.

You can knit this vest for someone you love that is far from home, or even, who lives close by, but you can’t see just now. I am very sentimental. Gather love and memories and make your own version.

If you are new to colorwork, this is the perfect project to dive into colorwork with. It is an easy pattern to memorize. I taught my dear friend Karen to knit with this vest. This was her very first project, and she knit it for her son, who was far from home.

I love to knit for loved ones. It’s my favorite thing. Knitting helps me with the all missing, and the best part, is when you’re done, you can send it to them, and it can help them with all the missing. Carrying home in your pocket is an art. And no matter what keeps us apart, knitting treasures like this will keep us together.
Sizes:
1 (2, 3, 4 pictured, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)

Finished measurements
Chest: 34 (36, 38, 40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60) inches 83 (90, 95, 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, 145, 150) cm
Length to underarm: 14½ (14½, 14½, 15, 15, 15½, 16, 16½, 16½, 17, 17, 17½, 17½, 18) inches, 37 (37, 37, 38, 38, 39.5, 40.5, 42, 42, 43, 43, 44.5, 44.5,45.5)cm
Armhole depth: 8 (8, 8½, 8¾, 8¾, 9, 9¼, 9½, 9¾, 10, 10½, 10½, 10¾, 11) inches or about 20 (20, 21.5, 22.25, 22.25, 22.75, 23.5, 24, 24.75, 25.5, 26.5, 26.5, 27.25, 28) cm
Body ribbing: 2½ (2½, 2¾, 2¾, 2¾, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3½, 3½, 3½, 3½, 3½ ) inches or about 6.5 (6.5, 7, 7, 7, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 9, 9, 9, 9, 9) cm

Yarn
Jamieson Shetland Spindrift
Main color: Moss 4 (4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color A: Bracken 3 (3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color B: Birch 2 (2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color C: Scotch Broom 1 (1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2, 2) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color D: Pacific 1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color E: Highland Mist 1(1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1)
Contrast Color F: Artichoke 3 (3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 5, 5, 5, 5, 6, 6) 25 g skeins
Contrast Color G: Ivory 1 (1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1) 25 grams

Needles
Gauge size needle in 32-inch (40-inch) and 16-inch circular needles and 2-sizes-smaller than gauge-sized needles for the ribbing . Please swatch until your get gauge to determine needle size.Hint: You can use the same length of needle for the armhole and V-neck and body by using the magic loop method.

Gauge and Swatch

26 stitches and 34 rounds + 4 inches or 10 cm for Size 1 only.
24 stitches and 32 rounds = 4 inches or 10 cm with larger needle for Sizes 2-14

Please swatch in the round in colorwork to determine needle size. The length of this garment is determined by measurements, so if your row gauge is off, it’s okay, just knit to the listed measurements.

The vest pictured is a size 40 and was knit with no ease, but you can knit this vest with 0-2 inch ease.

Skills used in this vest

Long-tail cast on
Knitting
Purling
Knitting in colorwork
Crochet to secure steek
Steek cutting
Bind off
K2tog
Ssk
3-Needle bind off
Picking up and Kicking stitches
1x1 rib