Virgo Vest

Virgo Vest by Sharon Slarke

What is Being Made

The Virgo Vest is a fitted, lace pullover vest designed with a scoop neckline and strategic shaping that transitions from the waist to the bust. This intermediate-level knitting project creates a sleeveless garment suitable for layering or wearing as a standalone piece. The vest is available in five size options, ranging from a 74cm chest (29 inches) up to 114cm chest (45 inches), with corresponding length adjustments from 50cm to 53cm (19¾ to 20¾ inches).

Techniques Used

This knitting pattern employs shaping techniques to create the fitted silhouette, with decreases strategically placed to enhance the garment's contours. The pattern incorporates waist shaping and bust shaping to achieve a tailored fit. When working decreases at the edges during shaping, the pattern instructs knitters to transition to stocking stitch if there are insufficient stitches to maintain the decorative stitch pattern, ensuring clean edge finishing and structural integrity.

Stitches Used

The primary decorative stitch throughout the Virgo Vest is the Falling Leaf Stitch, a lace pattern that repeats over a multiple of 10 stitches plus 11 additional stitches. This stitch pattern features:

• Yarn forwards (yarn overs) paired with decreases including k2tog (knit two together) and skpo (slip, knit, pass slipped stitch over)
• A special row (row 7 of the pattern repeat) that incorporates two yarn forwards matched with a sl1, k2tog, psso (slip one, knit two together, pass slipped stitch over) decrease
• Stocking stitch used as a secondary stitch at the edges where shaping reduces stitch counts

The combination of yarn forwards and paired decreases creates the characteristic lace openwork of the Falling Leaf Stitch while maintaining stitch count stability throughout the pattern.

Materials and Gauge

The Virgo Vest pattern recommends Heirloom Alpaca 8ply yarn, a 100% alpaca fiber available in 50g balls with approximately 95 meters (105 yards) per ball. The pattern requires 6 to 9 balls depending on size selection. However, any DK weight or 8ply yarn of similar yardage may be substituted.

Needles required include 4mm straight needles for the main body knitting and a 4mm 40cm (16 inch) circular needle, likely for neckline finishing. The recommended gauge is 19 stitches and 33 rows to 10cm (4 inches) when working the Falling Leaf Stitch pattern on 4mm needles. Achieving proper gauge is essential for obtaining the correct finished measurements and fit of the completed vest.