Have you heard of Elizabeth Zimmermann? It really is hard not to in the knitting world. So much so that people just refer to her as EZ. Well, I am going through an EZ phase where I'm reading all her books and making a few sweaters as well. Her way of constructing a sweater is fascinating to me and how easily she makes the math work out to customize it just for you. What I'm showing you today is her Mobius Vest from her book Knitting Around. It's just two long rectangular pieces of garter stitch knitting (with a bit of short row shaping half way through) made into a vest by twisting the rectangles a 180 degrees and seaming up the sides. That twist gives you the lapels for the front of this cardigan style vest. It's really that simple.
Now, this vest isn't going to win any current fashion shows, but it's practical, comfy and warm. Basically, I just had to knit it because I was curious to see how it would turn out. The I -cord as you go edging, short row shaping, and "afterthought pockets" kept me interested and the garter stitch knitting made it a perfect sweater to knit while visiting with friends. All I have left is to tack down the second pocket lining and put in a zipper closure. Of course this has been sitting in my WIP basket for over a month with only these two little things to complete, but I will finish really I will.
The funny thing is I knit this sweater with 3 strikingly different dye lots of the same color Malabrigo worsted weight yarn. The story goes like this - I bought 3 skeins on Etsy for cheap to knit this vest, but it looked HORRIBLE on me (really I can't say enough bad things about it, it was that awful) so it was frogged and laid in wait for another project. Then I couldn't find any other garment to knit with that little yarn (yes I know, hats and scarves abound, but I wanted a vest I tell you.) I thought I could buy a few more skeins of the same color thinking "I can blend the dye lots so no one will know." Well, they were so different blending would look striped so I knit blocks of color intentionally showing off the difference in hue. When I was just about done I ran out of yarn and ordered 1 more skein. Ack! At that point I thought so what and went with it. All in all I think it looks alright, but it's destiny will probably be a homeward bound sweater.
I tried showing you a few shots on how it fits, but without photographic help tonight you only get a couple of glimpses. The upper one shows how the lapel and "cap' sleeve look and the lower one shows how the pieces are twisted inward making a V in the back. After it's finished and blocked I will post again and you can let me know whether I was successful or not with my different dye lots.
What's on your needles this week?
No comments:
Post a Comment