Lana Grossa Long Sweater Vest Knitting Pattern

Lana Grossa Long Sweater Vest in Cool Air

What is Being Made

The Lana Grossa Long Sweater Vest in Cool Air is a sleeveless knit garment designed as Design 05 from Filati Classici 17. This vest features a classic silhouette with front bands, a neckband, and armhole bands. It is available in multiple sizes ranging from 36/38 to 48/50, making it suitable for various body measurements. The vest is constructed to be worn as a layering piece or standalone garment, offering versatility in styling.

Techniques Used

This vest is created using bottom-up construction, meaning the garment is knitted from the lower edge upward. The pieces are worked flat on straight needles rather than in the round, allowing for easier shaping and control during the knitting process. The garment uses seamed construction, with individual pieces sewn together after completion. This traditional approach provides clean, professional finishing and allows for precise seam placement.

The finishing process includes blocking, where pinned pieces are shaped to exact measurements before assembly. Shoulder seams and side seams are sewn together to create the vest structure. Additional finishing details include picking up stitches along edges to create the neckband, front bands, and armhole bands, which are then worked in ribbed pattern and bound off for a polished edge.

Stitches Used

The primary stitch used throughout most of the vest is stockinette stitch (abbreviated as St st), which creates a smooth, classic fabric by knitting on right-side rows and purling on wrong-side rows. This fundamental stitch provides the main body texture of the garment.

Ribbed pattern, abbreviated as rib patt, is employed for functional and decorative elements. The rib pattern used is K1, P1 (knit one, purl one), creating vertical columns of texture. This elastic stitch is worked on the neckband (10 cm in length), front bands (3 rows), and armhole bands, providing stretch and recovery to these edges.

An additional decorative stitch featured in this design is Trinity stitch, which creates dimensional texture. Trinity stitch works on a multiple of 4 stitches plus 2 selvage stitches. The pattern alternates between rows that purl all stitches and rows that combine a three-stitch increase (knit one, purl one, knit one in the same stitch) with a three-stitch decrease (purl three together), creating a reversible, bumpy texture that adds visual interest to the vest.

Materials

The Lana Grossa Long Sweater Vest in Cool Air is knitted using Lana Grossa Cool Air yarn, a premium blend consisting of 55% Merino wool, 33% baby alpaca, and 12% polyamide. This fiber composition creates a soft, breathable fabric with excellent drape and durability. The yarn is supplied at 125 meters per 50 grams, providing good yardage for a lightweight garment.

Yarn quantities vary by size: 350 grams for size 36/38, 400 grams for size 40/42, 450 grams for size 44/46, and 500 grams for size 48/50. The recommended color is Greige (color 2), a neutral, sophisticated shade.

The pattern calls for size 7 mm and size 9 mm knitting needles for the main fabric, with size 7 mm needles used for ribbed edgings. A size 7 mm circular needle measuring 40 cm in length is required for picking up stitches and working the neckband, front bands, and armhole bands in the round or flat as specified in the instructions.