Note to self: Neck opening appears larger before the ribbing is applied. Turns out, its an optical illusion. They are within 1/4” before and after.

I wasn’t happy with the way I did the “v” of the neck continued down into the body of the vest. After most of these pics were taken, I did a duplicate stitch to demark that tiny area under the “v” neck ribbing. Bottom picture shows the result. Happy dance.
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For hubby’s upcoming 60th birthday. Measured his favorite vest - a 50” chest.

Made a chart for the pattern. Simpler for my brain.

Swatch in Wool of the Andes Rabbit Heather: 4.8333 sts per inch over 6 inches. My gauge is very different than the pattern because I liked the fabric using a US 7 needle.

Pattern is multiple of 16+2 - 16x7+2=116. Adding 8 extra stitches to make it wide enough for hubs.

I’ll us a German Twisted cast on of 122 sts for a 2x2 rib. A multiple of 4 plus 2 for the selvedge/seam stitches.
k1, *k2, p2*, repeat from* to last st, k1. Don’t forget to knit the contrast color band. (thanks to greenebmw for that element!)

The following measurements are based on an existing vest that fits him well. I traced the vest onto muslin and cut it out. Now I have a great template to measure without him suspecting. (thanks to CableIntrigue for this idea)

knit 15” to first underarm decreases
4.25” total decreases for underarms = 20 sts each side
20” to v of neck
19” across top edge of finished back

10/8/2014

Casting on for back.

• US 7 - 122 sts

• German Twisted cast on

• Using 2 balls of yarn, left a 36” tail at each end of the cast on for seams up both sides

• Switch to US 5 for ribbing (this is the wrong side of the fabric, so knits will be purls and visa versa) p1, *k2, p2*, p last three sts.

• Work 9 rows of ribbing in Rabbit Heather

• RS: K one row with Chestnut, then one row of k2,p2 rib

• K one row with Rabbit Heather, then 2 more rows of ribbing (end with a RS row)

• Switch to US 7 needles and purl one row

• Begin Diamond Pattern.

• work 5 full pattern repeats

• bind off 9 sts at beg of next two rows

• dec 1 st each end of needle e/r/s/r 11x (82 sts)

• shoulder shaping: BO 9 sts at beginning of next two rows, BO 8 next two rows, BO 7 next two rows. 34 sts remaining.

• Working the V . Separate for V neck at row 9 of pattern. (half of 82 sts = 41) purl back. Begin decreasing using a k2tog on the right side and a ssk on the left side of the V - until 24 sts remain.

Yarn: I’m getting 6” of fabric from one skein. Looks like I might only need 9 skeins. Great! I have a teddy bear in mind for the left-over.

10/9/2014 - finished 2nd skein of yarn. Vest is now 11.5”. Ribbing and 3.5 repeats of pattern completed. Onward!
10/10/2014 - crunched some numbers to try and make this vest a perfect fit based on my muslin.

10/11/2014 - finished back. cast on for front

10/18/2014 - washed front and back. blocking on guestroom bed - locked door - hoping hubby doesn’t need anything from that room for a couple days. Ceiling fan should help.

11/18/2014 - Finally have a chance to work on this again All it needs is the armhole and neck ribbing - the fun part!

11/19/2014 - Done! spritzed the additional knitting and its drying right now! Love it!!!!!

Armhole rib and neck rib:
pick up stitches, purl one round, knit 3 rounds of rib, change color - knitting one round and then one round of rib, change color - knit one round, then 3 rounds of rib. Bind off.

For the “V” of neck I used a central double decrease on every round. (slip 2 purlwise, knit one, pass slipped stitch over). When picking up stitches, I used an even number so that I could start with a purl on each side of the center three stitches - when worked in the round.