Provincial Waistcoat - done!
I am struggling between wanting to do a photos-only post and a long, detailed rant about all the problems I faced in this quick and beautiful, but quirky as hell knit. If you’re as delighted as I am that it’s done, the photos are for you. If you’re planning to knit this pattern, do look at the detailed pattern notes below.
Here is the waistcoat lying flat on its back:
See the lovely shaping all along the back:
With me encased in what has turned out to be a forgiving corset:
Pattern: "Provincial Waistcoat" from Interweave Knits, Winter 2006, designed by Mari Lynn Patrick. (I knitted the smallest size, 30")
Yarn: Queensland Uruguay Chunky in Teal, 73 yds per skein (I used 7 skeins total)
Needles: size 9 bamboo (and size 8 bamboo for 10 rows of the waist)
Gauge: It’s a long painful story. But somewhere in the neighbourhood of 5-5.25 spi.
Modifications and notes:
- First of all, this pattern is quite complex, but amazingly enough, there are NO errors, at least in the smallest size that I made. Hooray for that!
- A lot of people have found that their waistcoats turned out too big. I too started with the 40" inch bust size, then moved down to 35" one, and finally knitted the 30" - with nearly 9 inches of negative ease! The ribbing pattern makes it stretch LIKE THE DEVIL, so when you’re picking a size, do not be afraid to pick the smaller one.
- You can figure this by gauge, you say? Well, the pattern mentions the gauge (18/4 inches) to be measured over "body pattern," even though this changes rather a lot over the waistcoat, thereby changing gauge too. It’s bloody difficult to figure out where exactly to measure it. Mine was eventually 20-21 over 4 inches, and it still worked out alright with the stretch.
- I made one major modification, following Landshark: I didn’t change the waist rows to the 1×1 ribbing, but continued in the pattern and just used a smaller needle for those rows.
- Also, I added two rows to the buttonband to keep it from gaping. I might change the buttons later if I find nicer ones (these have been lying around for ages.)
- The Queensland Uruguay chunky is mighty soft and wonderful to knit with but I hope it won’t pill.
- Much as I like the fit of the waistcoat, it adds bulk and makes me feel (and look) heavier. I will definitely make this pattern again, but with DK or Light worsted yarn, and make a larger size. I would certainly recommend that to others thinking of making this - the pattern stretches, it’s true, and therefore the bulk is flattened out, but with a thinner yarn it will also be less heavy.
- All in all, I enjoyed it quite a bit - but some indication in the pattern of the amount of negative ease to be expected would have saved me quite a bit of annoyance.
UPDATE: I thought I’d add a quick clarification for anybody who’s planning on making this waistcoat - your negative ease might well turn out to be less than 9 inches depending on the yarn you choose; a springy 100% wool is the best as a guarantee, I think. The great thing about the pattern is that since it’s all in one piece, you can slip it to a string periodically and try it on around you to make sure it is stretching and fitting you well.
Also, as I’m finding out, larger buttons help keep the buttonband in place - due to the stretch these smaller ones aren’t proving as useful.