This isn’t the Voe vest…it’s my own pattern, but I used MJM’s 200 Fair Isle Designs for the patterns. I really wanted a fair isle tank top with a round neck but I couldn’t find one, so I just made it up as I went along.

So, I am in love with a fair isle tank top (vest) from Cabbages and Roses last season - as I can’t buy it, I’m going to try to make it by making it up as I go along.

I have started by swatching the ribbing on 2.25 needles, K1, P1. I usually like to do ribbing on very tiny needles and then reduce the number of stitches to knit the main body. Knit stitches look a bit gappy, hopefully they will improve on blocking.

Next up, knitting a swatch for the main body.

Mary Jane Mucklestone says that there is usually about 4” positive ease in traditional fair isle, but that sounds like quite a lot. I measure around 34-36” on the bust depending on what bra I’m wearing.

My last fair isle knitting project was with Jamieson’s spindrift, and was 30 stitches per 4” on 3mm needles, giving 7.5 stitches per inch. (I measured my existing cardigan and it’s actually 28.5 per 4” giving 7.125 stitches per inch).

On that basis, I would need around 277 stitches. Some nice numbers divisible by other numbers are 264, and even better 288. 288 is divisible by 12, 16, 18 and 24, and the number of repeats is an even number for all of them. This means that the placement of the pattern should be symmetrical.

288 stitches at 7.5 per inch will give me a chest measurement of 38.4 which is maybe a wee bit bigger than I would want, so I think I will try going down to a 2.75mm needle to see if I can bring it down to a 37inch measurement.

OK, so the real gauge on 3mm needles is 7.125 which would give me a chest measurement of …40.4. So I’m going to go down a needle size to 2.75 to see if I can get it a bit smaller.

I have used Mary Jane Mucklestone’s 200 fair isle designs and Alice Starmore’s Book of Fair Isle knitting as reference sources for the charts.

Swatching ribbing, trying to make it as neat as possible as I find that spindrift looks a bit gappy on the knit stitches of rib.

2 x 2 (light blue) twisted knit stitches, knit in the round on 2.5mm

1 x 1 (green) twisted rib knit in the round on 2.75mm

next try invisible cast on on 2mm needles 1x1 rib not twisted.

swatched 1 x 1 rib with italian cast on (brooklyn tweed video) in 2.25mm. BT recommends sizing down by 2 needle sizes for italian cast on/off, but I don’t have anything smaller than 2.25 - have ordered 1.75mm. nice cast on but looks bulky in comparison to rib.

red swatch 1 x 1 rib cast on with 2.25mm, knitted with 2.75. Looks a bit chunky next to the fair isle swatch, so I do think I need to do it on 2.25.

Spent an hour or so practicing italian cast on…it will be worth it!

fairisle swatch in pattern knitted in the round (well, knitted flat but cutting at the end of each row) on 2.75mm needles is 28.5 stitches before blocking. 30.5 stitches after washing and blocking. This should end with a chest measurement of 38” which I hope will be spot on.

Now swatching for ribbing with italian cast on…the rib looks nice on 2.25 needles, but jared flood says to cast on with needles 2 sizes smaller with this cast on. I invested an evening in learning how to do the cast on but doing it on a 1.75mm needle is a nightmare. I think I am probably twisting the cast on as it’s so hard to see if I’m keeping it straight as it has a wiggly look and in the shetland which is hairy, it masks the stitches.

I’d like the ribbing to be 1” smaller than the body. on 2.25mm needles I am getting 11 stitches per inch, so for 37inches I would need 407 stitches - eek!

I would then need to decrease 119 stitches which is 1 every 3.4 stitches. convenient…

It’s not working out. I’m going to need to look for a provisional cast on - that way I can do a kitchener bind off instead.

ACTUAL KNIT

used a chain provisional cast on and started knitting the pattern on 2.75mm needles. Knitting up at 7.5 stitches per inch (30) which is quite a bit tighter than my swatch. Hoping it doesn’t get much smaller when I block it. I think it should be OK - I might try blocking it on the needles to check - I can always go up a needle size if necessary part way through to make sure I have enough room over the chest. It’s taking me about 20 minutes to do a patterned round, and 15 to do a plain one. I’m adding about ¾ inch each evening so it might take some times, but I love knitting fair isle as the counting is meditative…

I also started knitting the ribbing (increased K3 inc 1 using a lifted increase) which should mean I have 360 stitches in the rib - I haven’t checked. It was annoying having a second set needles on the live stitches do I went ahead and finished off the ribbing, knitting two tubular rows on 1.75mm needles before binding off with
Kitchener stitch. The tiny needles on the last two rows make a really neat finish, and just two rounds of slipping stitches (i.e. 1 row of slipped knits and one of slipped purls means that the edge doesn’t go too fat. Really happy with the ribbing. I might go for fewer stitches for the ribbing in the arm holes and neck though, maybe increasing every 4 stitches instead of every 3.