Crochet Sweater Vest #2

I simply can’t stop crocheting, can I?! This was my first ‘scrap yarn’ project- I don’t have a huge stash, because I’m not really about that (though I’ll admit it’s sometimes kind of tempting to purchase when I do see a nice looking yarn), but I do have yarn left over from other projects, which needs putting to good use. I also wanted to try doing a slightly more cropped version of the previous vest I made, as well as it being a fairly basic/ simple ‘nice’ project to do while I work through some personal stuff. I basically used the same pattern as the yellow vest, but did it 14 stitches (around 2.5 inches) shorter.

This is my only wearable project thus far I’ve not had to start again or undo when making it, which obviously felt good! I think that was down to having already created the pattern prior and using the same yarn brand/ weight etc, so there was no issue in terms of those variables.

It did however, go through an extensive design process! These were the front sketches:

Oh yeah, before I go any further, the yarn I wanted to use up was the blue and grey, but purchased the black as the ‘binding’ yarn if you like- because I wouldn’t have had enough with just the two colours, and black was the colour which pulled the design together the best. Or, at least in the vision I had for this garment. This was all trial and error, just using estimates, but whatever my guesses were, I was pretty bob on with the quantities, because now I only have 5g of the grey yarn left and about 1g of the blue yarn, so I think I did pretty well overall! I also only have 20g of the black yarn left, so even after buying a new ball, I don’t have much left at all. While we’re on yarns and weights and all that, I used the Women’s Institute Premium (100%) DK Acrylic Yarn and the total garment weight is 213g. So that’s nice to know when creating something similar in the future. I used a 4mm hook throughout, including the ribbing.

Above is the finished front, and as you can see on the initial design on the image prior- I pretty much produced it exactly to my sketch. The back though, was a little more of a minefield:

The front I was able to be a bit more free with the design process, because even though I knew I had limited yarn quantities, I knew whatever design I did (within reason) I wouldn’t be overdoing it with any colour and I knew I’d have enough to go through with the design I wanted. With the back, I then had limited yarn quantities left, so I had to design with that in mind. I wanted it similar to the front, but it didn’t need to be the same (and with the amount of yarn I had left it couldn’t have been anyway), so it went through a fairly vigorous iteration process. I even moved from my sketchbook to Photoshop, because I knew I’d be doing a lot, and it was easier to change design aspects faster using a computer.

Some were just way off the mark and much too complicated/ not in keeping with the simplicity of the front, so I had to scale it back a bit. Plus the ones with more colour blocks would have just looked a bit of a mess to be honest. I initially settled on this design:

But midway through, I realised I needed to add more blue to it or I would have been left with loads and therefore be defeating the object of this scrap yarn project, so I added a bit more blue after the black:

And in my opinion, it turned out pretty nicely and used up the adequate amount of yarn required to make this project worth it! If I’m being picky, the grey in the top right corner could have done with around 4 more stitches in height, as I think it looks a little short and off balance, but like I said, that’s me being me basically! It also would have left me with even less grey, which would have been nice, because now I have 5g swimming around my yarn box. I’ll likely find something to do with it, I’m sure…

I wanted to make the design a little more interesting than just stripes/ checks- so I have something completely different to what I already have in my wardrobe and something that you don’t really see too often in shops. I think I satisfied the brief well with this design. It’s not over the top wild, but there’s more interest/ detail taking it past something more basic. Not that there’s owt wrong with a bit of stripes (I own a lot of striped stuff- plus the last garment I crocheted was striped), it just wasn’t the look I was going for in this instance.

This was only meant to be a short post, she says, already exceeding the 800 word count! I just can’t help myself can I?! I’ll leave with a few more images then: the finished garment with me wearing it, a few close ups, plus the pattern, should I wish to refer to it quickly again in the future without rifling through pages of my notebook. See you in the next one xo