This is my third test for the talented Irene Lin. She’s way up there on my list of favorite designers. I love everything she creates. And from the looks of her Instagram page, she’s a loving mother and talented artist and musician as well. SO impressive. I’m privileged to be among her testers.

All three yarns are slightly different in weight/thickness although they are all 100% cotton and very nice to work with. The difference is not at all noticeable when viewing the finished garment, but I can notice it when knitting. From thickest to thinnest:

Color A - Hobbii Baby Cotton
Color C - Hobbii Rainbow Cotton 8/4
Color B - Knit Picks Comfy

I actually prefer the Comfy for our warm SF Bay Area climate. It also has more yardage. However, all are lovely yarns to work with, and they work well together.

Note that the armholes on this vest are a bit lower than normal because it’s meant to be worn over another garment.

My row gauge was a bit longer than that stated in the pattern. So after completing the lower ribbing, I gave my vest a bath in warm water and threw it in a warm dryer with a large load of clothes. It shrank just enough in length to match the pattern row gauge. This yarn washes beautifully. It came out of the dryer looking perfect. I’m not worried about the band ribbing shrinking because most of the shrinkage is lengthwise.

I picked up 72 sts for the front bands. Whatever number you pick up, make sure it’s a multiple of 4 sts and bind off the front bands loosely.

What I did differently:

• I did one row of all knit stitches prior to starting the lower ribbing. I think this finished off the last row of daisy stitch a little better, and you can’t really see it once the ribbing starts.

• I picked up only 49 sts for the back part of the neckband instead of the 57 sts stated in the pattern for my size. However, I followed the pattern instructions for how many sts to pick up for the fronts of the neckband.

• I used 2 sizes smaller needle for all the ribbing - in my case size 3 US. I bound off the neckband with size 1 US needle, but bound off with size 3 US needle for the front bands. Be sure to bind off in pattern on a RS row.

• I used size 3 US needles for the armhole ribbing and bound off very loosely using size 7 US needles. I did a couple less rows of daisy stitch in the upper front and upper back areas, so I picked up only 96 sts around the armhole instead of the 100 sts indicated in the pattern. Pickup ratio under the arm was 1:1 (curved part, including the 13 cast on sts), but I only picked up every other stitch around the armholes in the other (straighter) areas. This helps to keep the armholes from being too low.

• I did one additional round of ribbing around the armholes because I’m tall, have broad shoulders and I think it looks better that way on me.

• I made 5 buttonholes. Front and bottom buttonholes were placed per pattern instructions with 15 stitches separating each button in between.

Test Knit