Back to School U-neck Vest

I love going back to school - especially the fall clothes! Here's the other vest I had planned this year, from Stefanie Japel's Fitted Knits. This vest I knit from Aslan Trends Ecolana (alpaca 60%, merino 40%) in a very dark brown, on a 4 mm circular needle. I like this stuff, no dyes or chemicals used, soft and so light. A little itchy, but I think I can handle it!



I think there may have been an omission in the pattern where, after the ribbing section is finished (working from the bottom up), there should be a "knit 1 round" before beginning the purl 3 rounds, knit 3 rounds, etc. This would better define the purl band. I'm not sure why I didn't just do it, since that's how it's written before starting the ribbing. I would definitely recommend including that row.

There are errata for this pattern, I'm glad I noticed it before things got bad. Plus, I made a few mods myself. Like many other folks on ravelry, I wanted the neck to be a bit lower, and the shoulders to be a little narrower. The following modifications take into account the designer's errata, for the size I knit (the smallest)




Body
I worked even in waffle stitch til body measured 14” (obviously for longer length)

Upper front
After decreasing 1 st at beg of next 12 rows, I worked only one row (instead of 7, for a lower neck)

Front neck
Row 2: bind off 24 sts, work to end (22 sts remaining)

Note: all decreases occur at NECK edge
Row 4: decrease 1 st, then decrease 1 st every 4th row 3 times more (18 sts). Thereafter, decrease 1 st every 3rd row for 6 times (12 sts)

At this point you will have done the required number of repeats of rows 4-13 as per patt, plus one row (consider it negligible)

Next two rows: decrease 1 st at neck edge (10 sts, for a narrower shoulder width, taking into acct that purl bands will add a little more width)

Upper back
I wanted the rate of decreases to match the fronts, hence: decrease 1 st at beg of next 12 rows (44 sts)

Back neck
Repeat rows 3-4 six more times (10 sts)

Finishing
For the armholes, I only purled three rounds, then bound off purlwise. This helped narrow the shoulders a little more.

I’m happy with it! Another fall vest finished, and I got away with just (we’re talking less than 5 metres) two skeins.