I decided to knit the Visit Vienna vest pattern by DROPS Design since vests were “in” this year. I finally finished a couple of weeks ago. Just a bit of time left to wear it before summer is in full force. I must say, I am as pleased as punch with the outcome, although, I had my doubts in the beginning.

I have been knitting for years but am probably an intermediate knitter. Beyond beginner but not in any way advanced. The Visit Vienna pattern seemed easy enough. Things always seem easy though don’t they.

The free pattern can be found at: https://www.garnstudio.com/ . They do a wonderful job of explaining how to substitute yarn on this website. I did substitute the yarn for a cotton/linen blend. I thought that the needles would be the same since I followed the chart and all, however, when I started knitting, the vest looked a bit wide. My fault, I did not take the time to make a swatch to check the knitting gauge. Should have known better. One can’t cut corners when knitting. So I ripped-out the stitches and started over on MUCH smaller needles. I used a size 1 and size 3 instead of the 4 and 7 that the pattern called for. The website was very prompt in answering a question I had about the gauge. They were on top of things.

This pattern called for adding an edge stitch on the sides of each row. I had never run into this before so I had to youtube this to be sure I was doing it correctly. The pattern does not include these extra stitches in the cast on number, which was confusing to me at first. The edge stitches did make the piece lie nice and flat.

I also had not done a couple of the stitches in the pattern before. Knit twisted and purl twisted were new to me. Again, thank-you youtube for videos explaining these stitches, which were very simple to learn. The pattern itself is very easy (why I chose it 🙂 ). Basically if one can knit and pearl, go for it. The twisted stuff can all be found on a youtube video.

The armholes are all finished when knitting. The only stitches that need to be picked up and knitted after the vest is assembled is the neckline. This was easy enough to do.

I must say, this is probably my best knitting attempt to date. I LOVE my little green vest. It is meant to be a bit short, so if one wants a longer vest, add a few rows to the pattern. The reason it turned out so well was that I took the time to swatch my knitting gauge so that it fits perfectly. Trying to cut corners never works, lesson learned. I also took the time to watch videos and learn what was needed in order to make the vest correctly.

So glad I finished this when I did. Now, I will have something green to wear for Saint Patrick’s Day. Finding something green to wear (on this day), as a kid, was always a problem for me. At my school, kids loved it if someone wasn’t wearing green. The punishment for this was to be pinched. Some kids would even pinch you if you didn’t wear enough green. What! That wasn’t fair!

Would I make this pattern again? You bettcha! I might also check-out the other patterns from the website.

As always, Happy Knitting!