Off the needles

I am a lazy slub and have started writing this long before Twist is done because I know that once it is, I will write up a completely half a$$ed entry in my rush to post SOMETHING... Knitter, know thyself.

Twist - this is my own design, inspired, in part, by Wendy's Sizzle, but making it work for my numbers.

It is knit with an absurd amount of negative ease creating a very snug vest. In retrospect, I should have gone up one more needle size, but live and learn. My waist is fairly narrow and I didn't want to mess around with shaping which is why there is so much negative ease. I blocked it pretty severely so that it wouldn't constrict my breathing.

Yarn - Rowan Magpie in the Mexico colorway. Sadly discontinued. I used approximately 3-1/2 skeins. I could have added sleeves to make it a sweater, but I am way too lazy and have wanted a vest for a while.

The yarn bloomed nicely once I washed it. Losing any trace of scratchiness. I was able to block some extra length into it as well.




The pattern is simple: K1, P1, K4, P1, K1 for the right side rows. Wrong side rows, knit 'em as you see 'em. C4 front on the 6th row. I did a total of 160 stitches (I think) and have a 34" bust (I know this for sure). Each repeat is ~1" both vertically and horizontally.

I split for the neck at 13" or so and started the armscye shaping 1 inch later. Both the V and the armscyes are deep. The V for that oh so sexy office-wear look and the armholes to accommodate a shirt underneath so I don't itch myself to death or give anyone an eyeful of the girls. I wish I had split earlier so that the V was even deeper.

The ribbing is a K2P1, nothing fancy. I tried a couple of other options but wasn't pleased with the results. It took about 3 tries to pick up the right number of stitches for the neckline. Because I slipped the first stitch of every row, I was left with holes when I picked up just one stitch in each of the slipped ones. I ended up picking up one in each of the slipped stitches and then finagling to pick up one in between each slipped stitch. It came out to 3 stitches for every 4 rows and it is good enough.


Overall, I am pretty happy with how it came out. Not to bad for designing on the fly.