Blue Sky Fibers Market Vest

Blue Sky Fibers Market Vest Knitting Pattern by Stephanie Steinhaus

The Blue Sky Fibers Market Vest is a beautifully designed women's knitted vest created by Stephanie Steinhaus and published by Blue Sky Fibers (formerly Blue Sky Alpacas). This downloadable PDF pattern produces a stylish, everyday vest featuring an elegant eyelet lace panel stitch, a deep V-neckline, ribbed hem and body, and colorful stripe detailing. It is rated Advanced Beginner, making it an ideal next step for knitters who have mastered basic techniques and are ready to explore simple lace and shaping.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a women's pullover vest worked in five sizes: Extra Small, Small, Medium, Large, and Extra Large. The vest features a structured silhouette with a long ribbed body, shaped armholes, a V-neck front, and a clean seamed finish. The stripe colorwork adds visual interest and a playful, market-ready aesthetic that suits the pattern's name perfectly. The vest is designed to be worn as a layering piece over shirts or blouses.

Construction Method and Techniques

The Market Vest is constructed bottom-up and worked flat in separate pieces — back and front — which are then joined using a seamed finishing method. This traditional approach gives the vest clean, structured edges and allows for easy blocking of individual panels before assembly.

• Bottom-up construction: Both the back and front begin at the cast-on edge and are worked upward toward the shoulders, allowing the knitter to shape the armholes and neckline progressively.
• Worked flat: All pieces are knitted back and forth in rows, making this pattern accessible to knitters who prefer straight or circular needles used flat rather than in the round.
• Seamed finishing: The completed back and front panels are seamed together at the shoulders and sides using a tapestry needle, creating a polished, garment-quality finish.
• Stripes: The pattern incorporates a deliberate stripe sequence using a main color and three contrast colors, adding rhythm and color throughout the body of the vest.

Stitches Used

The Market Vest uses a combination of foundational and decorative stitches that give the garment both structure and elegance:

• K3, P3 Rib: A classic six-stitch ribbing pattern used for the lower body, worked for a full 6 inches to create a long, stretchy, and visually textured hem band that adds length and definition to the silhouette.
• Pattern Stitch (Eyelet Lace): An eight-row repeating stitch pattern that forms the decorative body of the vest above the ribbing. It alternates purl rows with knit rows and introduces a k2tog, yo (knit two together, yarn over) combination on right-side rows to create an open, airy eyelet texture. This simple lace repeat is worked over Rows 1 through 8 and repeated throughout.
• K2tog (Knit Two Together): A standard right-leaning decrease used both within the eyelet lace pattern and for shaping armholes and the V-neckline. Special instructions are provided for when a decrease row coincides with a lace pattern row, using a k3tog to maintain the stitch pattern integrity.
• Yarn Over (yo): Used in combination with k2tog to create the eyelets in the lace pattern stitch, maintaining stitch count within the decorative repeat.
• Bind off: Standard bind-off is used at the armholes and shoulders to shape the garment cleanly.

V-Neck Shaping

The front of the vest features a classic V-neck shaping worked by dividing the front stitches and working each side separately. The right front V-neck slant is shaped by decreasing one stitch at the neck edge every fourth row, repeated 14 (14, 14, 17, 17) times depending on size. A center stitch is placed on a holder to anchor the V-neck point, and the pattern provides detailed instructions for managing decreases when they coincide with lace pattern rows — a thoughtful touch that helps Advanced Beginner knitters maintain stitch pattern consistency while shaping.

Armhole Sh