Web-Letter, Issue 28 – Wicked Eyelet Rib Vest Not long ago, we published Cecily Glowik’s pattern Duchess Raglan—a simple, sleek, mostly stockinette stitch pullover. The sweater is beautiful in its Shaker-like simplicity—nary a rib or border stitch to break up its clean lines. Like the humble garter stitch, unembellished sweaters that rely on shape alone for their impact have a place in my knitting heart. I just love them. But there are times, especially when I’m studying the grainy pictures in stitch dictionaries, when my mind races with ideas for sweaters designed around the intricacies of stitch maneuvers. That’s why I appreciate this week’s project designed by our tech editor, Joëlle Meier Rioux. In her empire vest, worked in Wicked (100% cashmere), she’s taken full advantage of a little cable pattern. Joëlle used the cable in two different ways—first on a reverse stockinette stitch background, then on stockinette stitch—for two different effects. The vest is also a study in finishing techniques that add telling details to the sweater with no extra effort. The front and armhole openings are edged as you knit, nothing to pick up or sew on later. The neckline is trimmed with a simple picked-up band in reverse stockinette st that rolls in to cover the edge.
The Story: I like to take a simple element and experiment with it in different contexts. The initial inspiration for the rib pattern was the twisted stitch from Ann Budd’s sock pattern from Web-Letter #17. Starting with a 2 x 2 rib, I twisted one stitch and made a little mock cable rib. Then I doubled the rib to a 4 x 2. I then twisted three stitches and arranged them in a staggered formation. That gave me a different mock cable and the mixed 2 x 2 x 4 x 2 rib. My favorite kind of knitting is lace knitting. The basic elements of lace are a yarn over and its corresponding decrease. I incorporated the yarn over eyelet into my rib, playing with the placement and the slanting of the decrease, until a nice continuation of the previous pattern was formed. Then, because I really liked the look of the eyelets, I decided to keep them for the rest of the fabric, while discontinuing the rib. The result was stockinette stitch with widely spaced columns of eyelets. The ribbing at the bottom of the piece provides the waist shaping without the need to decrease and increase stitches. The button band, buttonhole band and armhole trim are built in, so the only stitches that are picked up are around the neck edge. This makes for a garment with minimal finishing. Happy Knitting! The Yarn: Wicked — 100% cashmere Wicked, the yarn used for the vest in this webletter has an amazing ability—it can be worked in smaller and larger stitch gauges with great results in both. For projects worked on smaller needles and more stitches per inch, Wicked compresses without making a stiff fabric; it stays soft and flexible. On larger needles, the yarn expands to create a lofty, substantial fabric. Either way, Wicked is a dream to knit with. Where to buy Wicked.	more photos The Pattern: Here's the free downloadable Wicked Eyelet Rib Vest pattern. If you have difficulty downloading or printing the PDF pattern above, try these: page 1, page 2, page 3 The Stitches: There are many ways to work successful buttonholes. For her vest, Joëlle used a yarn-over to create a buttonhole. The yarn-over buttonhole works especially well with finer yarns; it makes a perfect opening for small to average size buttons and it can be worked while knitting the piece, thus eliminating some of the finishing work. Learn more about yarn-over buttonholes.
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