Four Points Vest Pattern

Some projects begin with a drawing, some with a swatch.  This one began with loving a yarn combo and having a hard time starting projects.  For me the hardest part is always just casting on.  I know this is controversial, but sometimes just knitting a gauge swatch helps kick start the project for me.  It's a soft open for the project. Its a low stakes knitting project of its own.

Purl Soho had gifted me their Wild Donegal Tweed yarn in the color Brown Cedar, some Paintbrush Mohair in a similar tone to the tweed called Wild Shiitake, and the zesty Lemon Drop color to add some pop.  I loved how these yarns sat together and so I started this project by making my first mitered square comboing the tweed with the mohair.  I then expanded it to a larger quilt block which forms a textural diamond in addition to the contrasty bowtie shape. 

The above image was my notes to self as I was working on the piece and maybe shows how my brain works when developing an idea.  I do not write down every instruction that I do, but I do create a basic recipe for the spacing and shaping so I can remember what I did along the way.

The construction of this piece I think is really fun.  First you knit the smaller blocks, then assemble them into large ones.  Then you cast on the body and apply the quilt blocks in the gaps as you go.  The knitting goes quite quick in the worsted yarn and builds really fast because once the quilt blocks are made, the gaps between them are only 1/2 the piece.  The pattern comes with seaming instructions for the blocks as well as a bunch of diagrams to explain the process.

The silhouette of this piece is a bit boxy to accommodate an under-layer sweater or long sleeve top.  The armholes are slightly dropped because it allows for space for sleeves to fit underneath.

Here is the link to my try on video in the video I show it with and without a sweater underneath.

I do not do testing calls for most of my patterns which can be double tech edited safely with perfect results but for this one I opted to and the results were so wonderful and fun. Color placement and choice makes a big impact on the outcome and vibe of the final garment and all of the versions the testers made are a great showing of the variety that can be made.  The main reason I wanted to test this one was because of the odd construction.   I wanted to make sure that the diagrams and instructions felt clear to a range of knitters with different abilities and I made several tweaks to the pattern based on their suggestions.  Thank you to everyone who tested!

This pattern launches Thursday September 3rd at 10am ET and I think is a great project to gear up for yarn festival season.  I really hope to see a few of these wandering around at Rhinebeck this year!  Happy Knitting!