What a GREAT pattern! That’s all I have to say.

No. Not really. I’m going to go on for a bit more.

This is one of those patterns that I got a little advanced notice on Ravelry that it was coming out in the Nov/Dec issue of Crochet Today. I fell in love with the preview pictures I saw from Drew Emborsky (the designer). I knew the issue wasn’t going to hit the shelves for a couple of weeks but I immediately asked him for the yardage needed so I could scope out yarn (you can read about the yarn scoping/buying pain here).

Once all the Christmas gifts were completed I was finally able to get started on the vest. The pattern worked up fast and easy. It’s the perfect introductory pattern for your first garment piece. Just six strips created by a nice non-coma-inducing alternating stitch (Don’t you just hate those patterns that use one stitch for a long-ass time?). Stitch the strips together, edge those suckers and bam, a vest.

I chose Lamb’s Pride worsted-weight yarn in Sable and Roasted Coffee colors. It’s a great wool and mohair blend, easy to work with no splitting.

Tips about the pattern:

1.  Armhole ribbing: In Round 4 I believe you are suppose to join yarn A rather than continuing with yarn B to achieve the same look that is pictured in the magazine (Drew, if I’m wrong, please let me know).

2.  V-neck strip: Don’t freak out if the V tips curl a little bit. It all works out when you join the strips together. I DID freak out and I did this piece twice until the beer kicked in and subdued my solitary freak fest.

3. Lower edge ribbing: Don’t be afraid to do fewer rows in this section. I opted for a shorter edge since the person I was making this for has a shorter torso. I stopped at Row 6.

4. All ribbing: Don’t go nuts when you single crochet around the edges. It’s easy to put too many single crochets in and end up with a ruffled edge (I’ll give you one guess how I figured that dandy out). Two single crochets per row worked well for me rather than the disastrous three.

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