Fibonacci Righe 13/1782D Vest

Back

Righe = Italian for stripes.That one's easy.

Fibonacci = a sequence of numbers, found in nature and first discovered by Signor Fibonacci, an Italian mathematician by adding 0 +1 = (1) then adding the sum (1) to the previous sum +1 (=2)  then 2+1 = (3), then (3) + 2 = (5) and so on. sequence = 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55... and so on for this vest I start and stop with 55, alternating the one colour in ascending and the other colour descending order.
This is what I worked out for my vest - the underlined are grey, alternating with the red.

I need to press it before I wear it, so when it's done I'll retake their photos and put in a nicely press front and back.

55

2

34

3

21

5

13

8

8

13

5

21

3

34

2

55

I based the pattern, on one from Passap Model book 13/1782D. Except I made it longer. And wider. And with thicker wool. And I did a drop every 3rd needle down and relatch up. I'm speedy enough now at latching up, it's quicker than knitting. Official.

Un pressed front

Then because I wanted to add width, to the sides, and I wanted this to be thigh length, I decided to go the whole 1970s and put 2.5cm (8 rows) of short rows into the start of the back after the ribbing. I chose the middle half - quarter each side, then every 8 stitches I think it was, then commenced my 55 rows,


Seeing as I had the excel open, I decided to do a row count - 272, and put a row by row where I had to change colour, increase and decrease. then take away the rows I didn't want, paste it into publisher, make it big font, save as a .pdf and sent it to the kindle. Brilliant. Love it.
When I work out how to do the sequence, I get out the excel spread sheet, but first I MUST know how many rows I need from the centre back from hem to neck. Then I can work out where to put the stripes. On this one, I had too many rows so I started on 2, not 1, 1 like I have in the past.

Fibonacci Raglan Cardigan

On this cardigan, I was able to add 17 rows over all by putting in a black row between the rows and I started the sequence on 34/1, 1, 2, 3, 5 etc and reversed. It just worked out best for the total length I needed.

Fibonacci Stripes to the waist only

On this vest, I didn't buy enough yarn in the first place and they don't make it anymore, so I put the complimentary extra I need in stripes to the waist, and this also worked out best to have the grey/green separated by the main yarn on each side, but this time I decided to get the garter bar out and wield the stitches around with it. I thought it worked well.

Some Zoomy Vests

My stash on Rav 6 Mar 2012

I've been working on getting rid of my old WIPs (works in progress). I decided to start finishing them this year, starting with the nearest to finished. Well I finished the body and started on the sleeves. The more I did the less I wanted to finish it, wear it or have anything to do with it. So I decided to NOT finish it, and undo/frog it. So that makes two things I've put back into balls.

 But what started this epiphany, was... I need to make another blue/black vest or three. The ones from last year have suffered from "wearing them all the time".  I have one redish tone one that I can walk out the door, and I machined and hand knit - green! Two green vests. Great! I don't know what I was thinking, just getting them done. Which brings me to my Zoomy. Lauren and her Dad brought me back two packets of 10 Zoomys in different blues from their road trip home from Melbourne, in Dec 2010. Sadly my old Zoomy vest - well I don't think even the needy will want to wear it. It's rubbish. But backtracking to my WIP hand knit problem, I really didn't want to start another handknit until I made them go away. Problem solved, it's no more, it's back into balls.

My Shalom Vest with elledot (Leila's) buttons

So onto the Zoomy. I really need vests, so I made a replacement Shalom for the one that I threw away, and have started a Heather Hoodie on the other packet.

Heather hoodie in progress

And now I'm back to machine knitting. I'll finish off my second Lana Vest this week, then I'll think about whether I pack up Yoko and do something else one of the other machines. Maybe I'll make another Shawl Collared Cardi on it before I do.

Lana Sweater in progress - only sleeves to do

And I went to Spotties and bought some cotton jersey to make some long body/sleeve tees for this winter. I'd like to get them done next week, ready for the cool weather, which I don't think is too far away. I got some nice easy to wear ones from Primark, three plain cotton jersey ones from Lauren's trip to London, year before last and the three I brought back from my trip to London. I must admit I like the 100% cotton ones better and I'm so sick of stuff that is too short. So this year, I'm getting rid of all the too short stuff.


That's enough to be getting on with now I think!

Neverending Big Vest on SK860 Mid Gauge

I decided to make a vest in July, to wear to the Bendigo Show. A plain simple vest. Right. Finished it this week.

I'm still learning how to use the mid gauge and decided to do the cast on for the 2:2 IR rib in the book. I tried many times before realising that I was doing it right - but it looked awful because it was awful. I tried to adapt the Passap cast on.. nope didn't work either. In the end I used the Knitted back e wrap cast on (Ch2.5 in Susan Guagliumi's HMS4MKers) that works so well for single bed Passap work. I put three extra to move back a needle to keep it even: I started out with 7 sts, used the double eyelet to transfer 2 sts to the ribber, moved 3 over one needle, cast on 4 more and so on until I had it all done. While it worked I'm still looking for a "perfect" cast on for 2:2 IR on the middi, going to do a crochet cast on next.

I had 3 x 200G Bendigo Woollen Mills 8ply Bramble Allegro
and 1 x 200G BMW 8ply Dark Plum 8ply Classic

Now onto the back:
Cast on 2:2 IR, 65L to 65R, T2.2 both beds; knit 20 rows.
On the ribber: leave the 10 centre ones, and transfer all the others into the single needle space on the main bed.
T5 MB and T2.2 Ribber. RC000, knit 120 rows
Armhole: RC 000
-10 next two rows
-1 ev 2rows 9 times
straight to 72 RC
Shape Shoulder:
-8 next 4 rows. (I did short rows, then one more to seal it off)
take off however you like, I put onto circ needles.

Fronts:
Cast on 47 (counting on the main bed, the ribber stitches count as one.
T2.2, knit 20 rows.
transfer all stitches to main bed but keep the ribber up and use the ribber arm
- otherwise... you guessed it... you make it and the tension is different.. so you have to make it again to match the back - and that was just ONE of the many, many undos I did, just warning ya!
T5, ribber up but no stitches, knit 120 rows. RC000
-10
-1 ev alt row 9 times
straight to 72
-8 (Armhole edge) ev 2nd row twice.
make another one with reverse shaping.
Now wasn't that easy? I thought so.

Band
This is where I really, really came unstuck. I didn't buy enough wool and I couldn't for the life of me work out where to get a magic ball (for the non Aussies, one of our famous painters, Norman Lindsay, wrote and illustrated a book called the Magic Pudding, about a pudding that never ran out. A classic children's book here).

Now back to the band... for reasons known to noone I wanted a wide band. And have enough left over for a small sleeve cap.. I really liked the Kaino vest and had this in mind.

Things I tried that didn't work: Do it on the passap with the two colour changer with two rows each of dark plum and bramble. Ran out of wool. Made it thinner, only 5o rows to go.. Ran out of wool. Remade it on the Passap with 6 rows of dark plum across the back of the neck - nope still ran out. Went back to the vest. Did it really have to be that long? OK I could do with 30 rows less. Undid everything. Remade it all with 120 rows.... sigh... Will this vest ever get made?

Back to the band:
Let's pretend I bought enough to do the whole thing in one colour:
Cast on ... heavens I didn't write down the numbers properly, but
11 groups of 2 on the main bed and 10 on the ribber would be good. Take a look on your back and decide if you want it that wide or wider. anyway, here's the numbers:
T2.2
Knit to 140 rows, RC000
+ 1 st every 4 rows (however you like) 18 times (RC64),
knit straight to RC 76 PUT IN A MARKER on the neck edge (where the increases are). RC000
straight to 74 RC. PUT IN A MARKER on the neck edge. RCOOO
knit straight to 12RC
- 1 st every 4 rows (however you like, but looks good if you match the increases). RC76. Reset RC000
work straight to 170 rows.

Of course... I couldn't do that, could I?

so ... one of the Ravelry girls did and excellent job making socks on her single bed, I was very impressed with the clean line she got on the join. After "freeing up" the wool from 3o rows front and back. I felt I was onto something.

So... I made an outer Dark Plum strip, with about 10 rows too many in case I mucked up the maths, with a 7:7 count on the 2:2 rib, but put 3 on each end. one for the roll on the font edge and one on the other side for the join (I did a practice piece to work this out too... I did say this vest took six weeks to make, didn't I?)
then made a shaped strip 7:7 wide, again with the 3 sts (on the main bed) on the edge. Now there isn't a lot of room, so I ran a contrast thread for about 30 or so times (60 rows) so I could pick up that bar on the edge easily. The bar is slipped over the last needle every second row, which was easy to see which one while the cast on bar was in the way, I didn't worry about picking up the cast on row, I started with the first bar and pulled out the marking thread as I went. Yes it did take a bit more time, but I did it all in an afternoon and would certainly use this method again, I thought it was an excellent backup for adding a vertical stripe.

Now onto the Sleeve Cap:
join your shoulder seam however you like. I do the 3 needle cast/bind off.
Then I picked up every row, not the 3 of 4 that is usually done, with the Dark Plum and knitted in the pick up row on 3.25 circs (168 sts), then hung them in 2:2.
Start the short rows immediately. (yep, I did they twice to figure this out too). SET both carriages to short row.
(BUT IF I MADE THIS AGAIN I'd start in the middle and work my way outwards).
Easiest way to explain is - do you counting on the ribber:
on the left side, pull the needles up to the 7th group of 2.
knit 1 row, hang a claw weight,
pull up the NEXT needle on the main bed and pull up the same number on the opposite side,
knit 1 row, hang claw weight,
pull up the NEXT needle on the main bed and pull up 3 on the opposite side,
knit 1 row, continue, pulling up 1 on the carriage side and 3 on the opposite until 11 (eleven) groups of 11 (two) have been short rows (row 18)
ROW 19:
watch what you are doing: slowly start to knit, and when you see the LEFT HAND edge of the carriages clear the stitches on hold and are on the bit that hasn't been short rowed, THEN on the LEFT HAND SIDE flip your russell levers to pick up the short rows. BUT if you don't watch what's happening, you can miss collecting them (yep just one of the many redos on this vest).
ROW 20: flip the russell levers on the right side and knit all stitches.
work straight to RC24, change colour to main and knit 6 more rows.
Cast off however you prefer.

Do the other one.

Things I'd do differently on the next one:
buy enough wool.
the front band thinner - make it the same width as the back
on the shoulder do -5, -5 -5 and add two more rows each side on the bands.
Start the short rows on the sleeve caps in the middle, that would be better.

That's it.
My Neverending Big Vest.

Racked Rib Vest Pattern - Working Notes

Pattern incomplete - still working on it
Back:
C/O 2:2 rib, handle up, FB= 74R:74L, every 3rd needle down, arrange the back bed to match up.
I've been experimenting with the cast on for this rib and this one is:
Attach a weight to the loose end (padlock in my case)
Set needles, blue strippers, rack once left, T2, N/N knit one row,
Change: T4, CX/CX knit one row, set left edge weight (I use yellow/green latch tool with padlock over 2 needles' stitches) knit another row, lock is now at the left (RC3).
Change: rack once right, N/N, carefully knit one row, it will be tight, but goes through. RC000, knit 30 rows.
Change: T5, black strippers.
Rearrange ribs: starting at the centre, 3L:3R have to be on the front bed. 3,2L should be in place, move 1,2R with yellow tool to 2,3R, move 2 stitches from back bed to 1L,1R.
Next move the next 2 FB stitches, one pair each side of your new 6 st set, into the single space on the back bed (new 5 stitch group BB). Continue until you have 6:5 rib all the way, DO THE SAME THING all the way along the front bed. There is an overlap on the same side of the rib configuration, take a good look at which side overlaps (should be on the right) as you will be racking one turn the other way to make an overlap on the other side of the rib on rows 3&4.

The pattern:
Work 2 rows, rack left once, work 2 rows, rack right once. That's all there is to do for the next 150 rows. (except I'm using 50g balls and have to do a couple of joins): I didn't bother with waist shaping, as the ribs should do that for me - not caring if it doesn't either!

Armhole shaping: RC000
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs:
-10st x 1 ev 2R (20 st total)
-2 st x 2 ev 2R (4 sts total)
-1 st x 7 ev 2R (10 sts total)
continue to RC 98

Shoulder shaping:
You can do short row shaping if you like OR you can decrease straight from the machine OR you can put them on scrap/decker combs and do a 3 needle cast/bind off. Take your pick.
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs:
-6 st x 4 ev 2R
50 sts remaining for neckband.

Left Front:
T4, N/N 2:2 industrial rib, handle down, blue strippers, (+1 FB) L36 / R35 (+1 BB), cast on same of for back, then 30R. RC000.
Change: T5, black strippers.
Rearrange ribs: starting at the right on the front bed. Move 1st and 2nd stitch one needle to the right with yellow tool move 2 stitches from back bed to gap.
Next move the next 2 FB stitches, one pair each side of your new 5 st set, into the single space on the back bed (new 5 stitch group BB). Continue until you have 6:5 rib all the way; the 6 will be on the front bed on the right and the 5 purls will be on the back bed on the left (neck edge), DO THE SAME THING all the way along the front bed. There is an overlap on the same side of the rib configuration, take a good look at which side overlaps (should be on the right) as you will be racking one turn the other way to make an overlap on the other side of the rib on rows every 2nd row. Continue to RC 150.

Armhole and neck shaping: RC000
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs: Neck and armhole decreases occur at the same time, the armhole edge is every 2nd row, and the neck every 4th.
Armhole:
-10st x 1 ev 2R (20 st total)
-2 st x 2 ev 2R (4 sts total)
-1 st x 7 ev 2R (10 sts total)
Neck:
-1st x 24, ev 4th row
continue to RC 98

Shoulder shaping:
You can do short row shaping if you like OR you can decrease straight from the machine OR you can put them on scrap/decker combs and do a 3 needle cast/bind off. Take your pick.
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs, starting on the armhole edge:
-6 st x 4 ev 2R.

Right Front:
T4, N/N 2:2 industrial rib, handle down, blue strippers, (+1 FB) L36 / R35 (+1 BB), cast on same of for back, then 30R. RC000.
Change: T5, black strippers.
Rearrange ribs: starting at the left on the front bed. Move 1st and 2nd stitch one needle to the left with yellow tool move 2 stitches from back bed to gap.
Next move the next 2 FB stitches, one pair each side of your new 5 st set, into the single space on the back bed (new 5 stitch group BB). Continue until you have rib all the way (from left to right FB has the 6 of the 6:5 and 5 ends on the back bed. There is an overlap on the same side of the rib configuration, take a good look at which side overlaps (should be on the left) as you will be racking one turn the other way to make an overlap on the other side of the rib on rows every 2nd row. Continue to RC 150.

Armhole and neck shaping: RC000
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs: Neck and armhole decreases occur at the same time, the armhole edge is every 2nd row, and the neck every 4th.
Armhole:
-10st x 1 ev 2R (20 st total)
-2 st x 2 ev 2R (4 sts total)
-1 st x 7 ev 2R (10 sts total)
Neck:
-1st x 24, ev 4th row
continue to RC 98

Shoulder shaping:
You can do short row shaping if you like OR you can decrease straight from the machine OR you can put them on scrap/decker combs and do a 3 needle cast/bind off. Take your pick.
Dec sequence, COUNT NEEDLES ON THE FRONT BED, absorb the extra overlap st where it occurs, starting on the armhole edge:
-6 st x 4 ev 2R

Armbands:
Make 2: (or do by hand).


Neckband:
Make 2: (or do by hand).

Finishing
Sew seams, and either graft machined bands or cheer as you cast off the bands.