Meet Your New Bestie Vestie!
Is there a type of garment that you haven’t made yet? Perhaps like me, you’ve never knitted (or worn!) a vest up until now. You may even think vests are not quite your thing. But maybe you’ve just never met the right vest pattern . . .
Or maybe you’ve knitted a vest or two and already know how versatile they are. And now, with sweater weather and many more fiber festivals around the corner, you’re looking for a transitional, quick knit—but of course it also has to be size inclusive and fun!
Enter my newest pattern, the Bestie Vestie:
Isn’t it cute?!
The idea for this pattern was born when I tuned into an Instagram Live where two besties, Lorajean (@knittedwit) and Shannon (@shannonsq), were talking all about a vest-along they were about to participate in. As they excitedly chatted about silhouettes, textures, and how they’d style a vest, inspiration took hold.
Before the live even ended, I had grabbed the nearest notepad and scribbled a few rough sketches based on another pattern I had in test knitting at the time (we’ll talk about that one in a future blog post 😘). The first sketch was heavily cabled, front and back. Keep it simple!, I thought to myself. It was the third and last sketch that stood out as “the one.”
I started a spreadsheet and ordered yarn faster than it took you to read this sentence. One package would be coming from another state and the other from a couple hours north of me, but tracking for both said they wouldn’t arrive for nearly a week. Torture!
To my relief, the yarn arrived four days sooner than estimated, and just in time for me to work on while podcasting and watching You’ve Got Mail with my bestie during her visit from Canada!
As I made progress on the pattern and then worked on a second sample, my husband—completely unaware of what (or who!) had initially inspired me to drop everything else to work on this pattern—started calling it the Bestie Vestie. I loved how that name rolled off the tongue. It was cute and memorable. It was different from the types of names I had used since I started designing in 2010. But I didn’t realize until I started finalizing the pattern for release how perfect the name ended up being.
The icing on the cake is that this pattern was test knitted by 90 of the best test knitters ever! You’ll see on Ravelry or in the test knitter gallery at the bottom of the pattern’s page here on my website that it looks tailor made for and downright awesome on every body. The pattern includes two length options—cropped and mid-length—as well as lots of customization options, and it can easily be worn by itself or over button-down shirts, dresses, and tees. Many testers even commented that this vest is the best-fitting thing they’ve ever made and that they are already planning to make another. 🥰
Will you be making one too? I would be honored if you did! And whether it would be your first vest or a new one to add to a growing collection, I hope that it’s your Bestie Vestie yet. 💜