Are you running out of time? Here's a quick and easy vest for a boy or a girl. The yarns you use and the buttons you sew on can make it a super gift! Grab your stash and get some great combinations of colours.
Materials and Gauge:
Size 15 needles - 4 buttons
Enough strands of yarn to get the gauge of 2 1/2 sts to 1 inch.
Size:
Size 2 to 3 (total length 13 inches, 8 in. to armholes, and 5 in.
to the shoulders.
Chest size: 22 inches (measured with button bands)
Cast on 51 sts using the trim yarns (could be a combination of the sweater yarns with 1 different one added)
Work 5 rows of garter stitch, then switch to the yarns to be used for the whole vest. Work in Stockinette Stitch until entire piece measures 8 inches, then separate into 25 sts for the back, and 13 for each front.
Work back only: decrease 1 st at each armhole edge twice. (47 remain on back ) Work until the entire back measures 13 inches. Put these sts on a holder.
Now working on fronts, decrease 1 st at each armhole edge twice. (11 remain on each front.) Now work even on the armhole edge, while decreasing 1 st on each front edge, every 3rd row, 5 times, leaving 6 sts on each front.
When fronts measure the same as the back, work the 3 needle bind off on the 6 sts on each shoulder, and also bind off the sts across the back neck.
Picking up the border yarns, crochet 1 row of single crochet around entire front and neck edges. Chain 1 at the places you wish your buttonholes to be.
Now work the backwards crochet (sometimes called the crab or shrimp
st) around entire edge and secure all ends of yarn. Sew on buttons.
The armhole edges don't seem to curl, so it is
optional whether you wish to crochet around them.
If you don't know how to crochet, pick up the fronts and neck edges
and knit 2 rows, then mark spots for buttons and work a yarn over and knit
2 together at those places. Work 1 more row
garter st and then loosely bind off all stitches.
Add the inches of stitches you need if you wish it to be wider, and of course rows if you wish it to be longer. You can also make the vest shorter as a crop top.
Susan Esser shesser@aol.com