Blue Sky Fibers Vermillion Vest PDF

Blue Sky Fibers Vermillion Vest PDF – Knitting Pattern Summary

The Vermillion Vest is a beautifully crafted women's cable knit vest designed by Sylvia Hager for Blue Sky Fibers, part of their Classic Series. This intermediate-level knitting pattern produces a stylish, structured vest featuring elegant cable detailing and thoughtful shaping, making it a versatile wardrobe staple that works across a wide range of occasions and outfits.

What Is Being Made

The finished project is a women's knitted vest worked in three sizes: XS/S, M/L, and XL/XXL. The finished chest measurements are 40¾ (47¾, 56¼) inches with approximately a 2-inch front overlap, and the finished length is 30 (31½, 33) inches. The vest features a front opening with overlapping fronts, cable patterning throughout, neck shaping, and armhole shaping for a polished, tailored silhouette.

Construction Techniques

• Bottom-up construction: The vest is worked from the cast-on edge upward, allowing knitters to build the body and shape the garment progressively as they go.
• Worked flat: Unlike fully seamless garments, the Vermillion Vest is worked flat, meaning pieces are knitted back and forth in rows rather than in the round, which is well-suited to the front-opening design.
• Cables: The signature visual feature of this vest is its cable pattern, which runs throughout the body. Cables are created by crossing groups of stitches over one another using a cable needle, producing the characteristic twisted rope or braid effect. The cable pattern has its own gauge of 22 stitches and 24 rows to 4 inches, which differs from the stockinette gauge and is important to check for accurate sizing.
• Neck and armhole shaping: The pattern includes detailed shaping instructions for both the neckline and armholes, with bound-off stitches and gradual decreases worked simultaneously to create a clean, fitted finish. Stitches are placed on holders to be finished later, a common technique in flat garment construction.
• Three-needle bind-off: The pattern calls for a specific extra needle for a three-needle bind-off, a technique used to join live stitches from two needles simultaneously, creating a neat seamed edge without the need for sewing.

Stitches Used

• Stockinette stitch: Used as the basis for gauge measurement and likely as a background or transitional stitch within the pattern. Stockinette is formed by knitting on right-side rows and purling on wrong-side rows.
• Cable pattern: The primary stitch pattern of the vest, worked throughout the body. Cables require a cable needle to hold stitches temporarily while others are worked, creating the signature crossed texture.
• SSK (slip, slip, knit): A left-leaning decrease stitch used during armhole shaping, as referenced in the right front shaping instructions.
• Knit and purl stitches: Fundamental stitches that form the foundation of all the pattern's stitch work, including the cable and stockinette sections.

Materials

• Yarn: Woolstok (Worsted) by Blue Sky Fibers — a 100% Fine Highland Wool yarn, sold in 50g/123-yard hanks. This yarn is noted for its exceptional softness and excellent stitch definition, making it particularly well-suited to showcasing cable work. It is available in 21 colorways; the colorway shown in the pattern is Drift Wood (No. 1312). Depending on size, 9 (10, 12) hanks are required.
• Needles: A size 9 (5.5mm) 36-inch circular needle, or the size needed to obtain gauge, is used for the main body of the vest. An additional size 9 (5.5mm) extra needle is required for the three-needle bind-off.
• Cable needle: Required for working the cable pattern throughout the vest.
• Additional tools: Stitch holders or waste yarn for holding live stitches during