It’s been two months since I cast on this simple little vest and I’m finally nearing completion. After letting it sit for weeks unassembled and then postponing the pick-ups, I made great strides over the weekend, when I ripped out the false-start first armhole edge and knitted them both, then picked up stitches for the neckband. After crowdsourcing armhole edging ideas, I wound going with Norah Gaughan’s suggestion, which was to pick up, knit one round, then bind off in purl. It’s a bit like a single garter ridge, but set off slightly, which felt like it’ll be a good companion to the garter-stitch shawl collar I’m planning.
I still have two key decisions to make: 1) will this have button/holes or not, and 2) still debating sewn or knitted pockets. As soon as I decide those things, the finish line is mere days away, so of course now it’s in the 90s — but still, this is a great a/c defense tool. (Yarn is Mungo.)
Meanwhile, needing a major departure from stockinette, I cast on the April Hat from my recent bobble berets post. I’ve never knitted anything like this, am having a great time with it, and will say more about that when it’s finished! (Yarn is Germantown.)
Which means it’s time for me to zero in on a Summer of Basics plan.
(Lykke needles and stitch markers from Fringe Supply Co.)
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PREVIOUSLY in Queue Check: April 2019
I love the edge on the arm holes – simple but add to the design! I am contemplating casting on your vest and will be watching for any & all shawl collar updates & advice. Spring & vests just make sense here in Minneapolis!
HaPpY knitting : )
This one’s a different shape and proportions than Anna, but you could easily add a shawl collar to Anna — I’ve seen it done, looks great.
No one makes undyed wool look as scrumptious as you. You often have me wanting to cast on the very same things in the very same yarn.
It is clearly my favorite, even though I keep trying to branch out …
Totally agree with Samantha! Gorgeous – makes me happy just looking at these natural knits.
Thank you, Mary Jo!
I want to make that hat. It’s on my early fall to do list.
The puff stitch rounds take me a hilariously long time, but it’s really fun to do something totally different.
That vest (heart eyes)
Hopefully it’ll keep getting better!
The armholes look perfect.
Have you considered using the armhole technique to bind off your button band?
The button band is garter stitch worked flat, so it’s more or less the same — the armhole in-the-round being a knit round then a purl (BO) round, which would be the same as knitting that round from the other side.
Buttonholes. Otherwise it looks funny (for some reason I’m feeling very opinionated these past few days. I’ll be glad to get back to my regularly scheduled programming but for now I guess I’m all out there for anyone). I love the armhole edge.
Haha. I’m leaning away from buttons at the moment, but you never know!
How do you like Mungo ? I have it on my needles and must admit to be quite in love with it, even if the lack of stretch and recovery feels strange. And the natural colour is just the perfect shade of cream !
I’m really liking it for this! The recycled fibers definitely give a whole different feel to my usual cotton-wool favorite. It feels a lot more like cotton, and I like the fabric best after a run through a machine wash. Which is great!
Yes, it is so much better after washing ! And I did not know you could machine wash it, thanks for the tip, I would not dare otherwise.
I figured there was no harm in machine washing a swatch to see what would happen! And it came out great, so I washed my pieces, too.
That’s one of my all time favourite edgings–I first encountered it in the early 2000s when making a Knitting Pure and Simple tunic sweater. Still living in wool here on the north shore of Lake Ontario where we are having a very late, cool spring with the leaves on the trees not even fully out yet even though we’re past the Victoria Day weekend.
If you just want to get on with it you can knit the collar with no buttonholes. If you decide to put buttons on later you can either just sew them through both layers (if you don’t ever wear it open) or sew them on top with translucent snaps in between the layers for easy ‘unbuttoning’.