Super Striped Vest!

What do you do with all those leftover yarn bits from other finished projects? Like most knitters, I hang onto them, hoping to put them to some good use so I can call myself an environmentally friendly, conscientious crafter. However, the pile does get out of hand, and every now and then I feel the need to conquer my mess. Alot of leftovers projects just aren't all that appealing, though. There are plenty of suggestions for using up your leftovers, but they leave something to be desired. Things such as wrist bands, head bands, cell phone cozies, tiny ornamental Christmas sweaters, washcloths, and the like...they're just not very useful things to me.

I saved up all my bits of leftover Lamb's Pride worsted weight wool and ended up making this striped vest, which is very loosely based on this Leftovers Vest pattern from Knitty. I knit this on US8 circulars and did a quick gauge calculation to determine the number of stitches to cast on (I must have measured another sweater for circumference) and worked a 2x2 ribbing until I basically got bored of doing that. With this being my first striped project, I was having a hard time choosing my striping pattern so I borrowed the stripes chart from the Peppermint Twist sweater in Stitch n Bitch: Knitter's Handbook. And, I used these instructions for doing jogless stripes:

I'm not sure if I did it right, but it looks fine to me - not very joggy at all. I made some guesses on where to start dividing for the collar and armholes, then seamed it up at the shoulders. Stitches were picked up at the collar and armholes (which turned out a little tight, but not tight enough that I was willin to rip back and start over).


This is my winter super-vest. D and I walked around the North Market today to take these photos, and I even with my jacket wide open I was still getting hot. Next time, I'd knit Lamb's Pride worsted on slightly bigger needles for a slightly cooler-wearing project. Overall I quite like this yarn, it's got a great colour selection (have I said this already?) and the mohair gives it a nice, soft fuzziness too. This is probably the the most colourful winter thing I wear.

So, what are you going to do with your leftovers?