Classic Elite Yarns Macknade Vest Knitting Pattern

Classic Elite Yarns Macknade V-Neck Vest

What Is Being Made

The Macknade is a V-neck vest designed by Susan Mills and originally published in Adelaide in 1607. This is a seamless, fitted garment worked primarily in the round from the bottom up, featuring a distinctive diminishing cable motif that creates visual interest throughout the piece. The vest is suitable for experienced knitters and offers customizable length options for the lower body.

Construction Techniques

This vest employs several advanced knitting techniques to achieve its polished, professional appearance:

• Bottom-up construction: The garment begins at the lower edge and progresses upward to the shoulders, allowing for easy length adjustments before committing to the final yardage.
• Seamless, worked in the round: The lower body is knitted in the round using a circular needle, eliminating the need for seaming and creating a smooth, continuous fabric. This method continues until the underarms, where the piece is divided for working the back and fronts in rows.
• Cable work: The vest features a diminishing cable motif that decreases in size as it progresses up the body. The cables are worked using a cable needle to create the characteristic twisted stitches that add texture and dimension.
• Hybrid flat and circular knitting: After dividing at the underarms, the back and front pieces are worked back and forth in rows, allowing for shaping at the shoulders and V-neck opening while maintaining the cable pattern established in the circular sections.

Stitches Used

The Macknade incorporates several fundamental and decorative stitches:

• Ribbing: The lower edge begins with a knit-purl ribbed pattern (K2, P2 ribbing) that provides elasticity and a finished appearance at the hem.
• Reverse Stockinette stitch: The base fabric is worked in Reverse Stockinette stitch, which creates a subtle textured background that allows the cable motifs to stand out prominently.
• Cable stitches: Multiple cable charts (Chart A, Chart B, Chart C, and Chart D) guide the cable placement and construction. These charts provide row-by-row instructions for crossing stitches over a cable needle to create the diminishing cable design. The cables are worked differently depending on whether they are being knitted in the round or in rows, with careful attention to reading chart rows as right-side or wrong-side rows accordingly.

Materials and Gauge

Proper gauge is essential for achieving the correct finished measurements and fit:

• Yarn and needles: The pattern is designed for use with Classic Elite Yarns and requires a longer circular needle for the in-the-round sections. The specific yarn weight and needle size are not detailed in the provided content, but the gauges below indicate a fingering to sport weight yarn range.
• Gauge in Reverse Stockinette: 20 stitches and 32 rows/rounds over 4 inches when blocked, providing a baseline for fabric density.
• Gauge in pattern (Charts A and B): 26 stitches and 37 rounds over 4 inches when blocked, accounting for the tighter gauge created by the cable stitches.
• Chart C gauge: 40 stitches measure 6 inches wide when blocked.
• Chart D gauge: 12 stitches measure 1¾ inches wide when blocked.

Customization and Sizing

The Macknade is offered in multiple sizes (XS through an unspecified larger size, with cast-on counts of 240, 288, 304, 320, 336, and 352 stitches). The pattern allows for customization of the lower body length by working additional repeats of Chart D before dividing at the underarms. Each additional 20-round repeat adds approximately 2½ inches to the lower body length. Knitters planning to lengthen the vest should purchase extra yarn accordingly.

Pattern Notes

The pattern includes important technical guidance for successful completion. When working Chart D in the round, all chart rows are read as right-side rows. When transitioning to working back and forth in rows after the underarm division, odd-numbered chart rows are read as right-side rows and even-numbered rows as wrong-side rows. The designer emphasizes checking gauge before beginning, as proper gauge ensures correct finished measurements and appropriate yarn yardage consumption.