Light Petrol
Pattern modified from Knitty: Petrol
Gauge: 20 sts x 29 rounds/ 4” in pattern
Materials: TLC Cotton Plus (51% cotton, 49% acrylic. 186 yds) <4 skeins in color navy (MC), 1 in moss (CC1) and 0.5 in aran (CC2). Circular needles 29” size US7 and size US8 Denise circulars.
Started: November 1, 2005
Frogged: November 4, 2005
Finished: November 26, 2005
Finished measurements after blocking:
Chest: 46”
Length: 24”
Notes:
Stitch pattern – k4, p2 on RS. P all on WS. K last stitch of every row and sl1 purlwise at beginning of every row.
Back:
Cast on 116 sts. Purl row 1. Work in stitch pattern to row 67 in MC. Begin chest stripe section on WS as below. At the SAME TIME, begin armhole shaping.
Work chest stripe as follows:
13 rows CC1
8 rows CC2
4 rows CC1
2 rows CC2
4 rows CC1
8 rows CC2
13 rows CC1 (begins on row 107)
Begin armhole shaping on RS row 108 (2nd row of last stripe of CC1, work measures 15”) as follows: Cast off 5 sts at beginning of next two rows (96 sts). Decrease 1 st at both ends of every RS row 10 times (86 sts). Work even to 24”. Bind off with RS facing (row 172, row 51 of MC).
Front:
Work as for front up to armhole shaping. AT THE SAME TIME, begin neckline shaping when piece measures 17” as follows. (This will be after 3 rows in the MC, working on the WS). Purl 45 sts. Transfer 2 sts to safety pin and leave remaining 45 sts to be worked later. Working on right front of vest only (left side of RS), slip 1, SSK, work in pattern to end and continue armhole shaping. Repeat decreases for neckline shaping a total of 18 times. 24 sts remain. Continue without further shaping until work measures 24”. Bind off with RS facing (row 172). Repeat on left front of vest. Break yarn leaving enough to sew shoulder seams. Sew shoulder seams. Measure out a length sufficient to sew side seams but do not break yarn as this will be used for armhole finishing. Sew side seams.
Armhole:
With yarn used for side seams, pick up and knit 5 stitches every 8 rows. K2, p2 for 5 rounds and bind off in k2, p2 ribbing with larger needles.
Neckline:
Pick up and knit 5 stitches every 8 rows along neck sides knitting two stitches from safety pins as you get to them and pick up 1 stitch for every bound off stitch across back neck. K2, p2 for 5 rounds and bind off in k2, p2 ribbing with larger needles.
Discussion:
Well, according to Wendy, I’m a designer too. I call this Light Petrol, because it’s so loosely based on Petrol. I don’t necessarily believe that this is a design of my own, since how many original designs for a sweater vest can you actually get? They’re all basically the same shape, right?
I will say that I was not impressed with the directions on the original pattern. Let me start off by saying that I don't really count stitches most of the time because I'm usually off on my own with number of stitches because I never make a size that's actually calculated out in the pattern itself. But this one was glaring. The directions say to start armhole shaping, and then when the piece measured x", start neckline shaping. Great, except then the pattern goes on to give specific stitch counts to shape the neck and the count did not take the decreases for the armhole shaping into consideration at all. I'm sure it was just a typo, but I'm surprised it got past the tech editors over at Knitty.
Of course, I have stitch AND row counts in my notes above, so I should probably be slapped. I'll have to remember the things I complain about if I ever do decide to write a real pattern someday.
This project absolutely flew except for the armhole and neckline finishing. In true knittingspaz fashion, I did each armhole three times and the neckline twice and am still not 100% happy with the finished product since I still think it pulls a bit around the neck. But it’s good enough and I think my grandpa will enjoy it enough so that I can move on to other Christmas projects!
Previous posts about this project:
Yes that’s my binary girlfriend on the floor on 11/8/2005
Vegas style on 11/15/2005
A picture, a picture!!! on 11/16/2005
I come by it honest on 11/22/2005
Tuesday is pictureless knitalong day on 11/29/2005
