Introduction

This lightweight vest is knit bottom-up in the round, then split into front left, front right and back sections, which are worked back and forth separately. Neckline and sleeve ribbing is added at the end, and the love heart chart is worked on both the front and the back, for a fun and satisfying knit!

The vest is designed to have a cropped fit, and the recommended body length before splitting for front and back reflects this.

Note that only odd rows of the pattern have any “active” cabling, whilst even rows should only require knitting or purling stitches. This is to make working the back and fronts separately easier, as most knitters prefer not to cable from the wrong side of the work! This also means that you should be aware that once the body is complete, the even rounds of the charts will be inverted as you’re now working back and forth rather than in the round, i.e. knits will be purls and purls will be knits.

If you are a visual learner, I strongly recommend referring to the appendices for the complete cable overview chart for your size, at least for the first few rounds of the cable pattern where it is more difficult to “read” your work. After that, you will probably find that you only need to occasionally refer to the individual section charts as the cables become more intuitive.

I also recommend making a note of the number of cable rows you have worked, so that you can easily work out which row of each individual cable section to work next, should you put down your love vest for a little while before resuming. For example, 63 rows of the cable pattern completed would mean that on your next row (row 64), you would be working row 14 of Chart B, row 16 of Chart A, row 4 of Chart C, and so forth.

Materials

3 / 4 / 4 / 5 / 5 / 6 x 50g balls or 750 / 845 / 950 / 1070 / 1200 / 1350 metres of Knitting for Olive Merino yarn, or another fingering-weight equivalent
3 / 4 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7 x 25g balls or 675 / 760 / 855 / 960 / 1100 / 1225 metres of Knitting for Olive Soft Silk Mohair, or another lace-weight mohair equivalent

3mm circular needles, or size required to meet ribbing gauge.
3mm DPNs for sleeve and neckline ribbing, or size required to meet ribbing gauge.

4mm circular needles, or size required to meet cable gauge.
4mm straight needles, or size required to meet cable gauge.

Gauge

14 stitches and 18 rows = 5cm x 5cm in ribbing
15 stitches and 16 rows = 5cm x 5cm in cable pattern

Sizing

This vest is available in 6 sizes, spanning UK sizes 6 to 28, or a bust measurement of 32 to 52 inches. The finished garment is designed to have several inches of negative ease, meaning the fit is fairly tight. If you prefer a more relaxed fit, I recommend going up a size.