design idea – Deb Gemmell: Top Down, Gauge Free and more

www.ravelry.com/stores/debgemmellmods

I’ve come up with these 4, or maybe 5, options for making a vest. But which one to start first?

I think I might try several over the winter. How about you?

This one would be worked top down in garter stitch and started with a very big square shaped cast on. It would have only a few rounds of raglan shaping. Is it very fashionable (???), not that I’m a fashion diva!

This is based on the contiguous method of construction. Thanks Lynda C. for this suggestion. The contiguous shoulder is worked in the round, increasing 4 stitches every round, one increase before and one after a couple of shoulder stitches on both shoulders. I would need to work some sort of edging at the sides of the armholes because I don’t like having to pick up to finish them.

This is a straight raglan knit and the first one I thought of doing. I would work tuck stitches in the shoulder section to shorten the fabric of the shoulders. Would the shoulders be too bulky?

This one is a straight raglan yoke where the top of the shoulder stitches would be cast off and then at the armhole side of the raglan lines decreases could be worked to narrow the shoulders. Thanks Dana for suggesting this one.

While I was thinking about this a totally random thought came to me. I could add one more possibility, but not a raglan which was my original intention. What if I knit the Build a Bigger V as a vest? The central panels for the back and front are worked separately and then stitches are picked up along the sides of the front and back and knit out for the size of the body and the sleeves.