Granny's Best Vest

I started this project about 2 years ago when I got COVID and couldn't leave my room for a week. It was my first attempt at a larger piece of crocheted clothing so I wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm really happy with how it turned out.

Inspired by Harold's fit in his Watermelon Sugar music video, I really wanted to embrace my inner old lady and make a crocheted vest. Obviously, with my lack of experience making clothes, I wanted to start with something pretty basic so I found this pattern which just uses the same treble (UK) stitches over and over again.

I started off by doing a gauge swatch in a spare colour to get an idea of my tension. I think that my yarn was a bit lighter than the one used in the pattern because I ended up having to modify the pattern a bit to make it the right size.

The yarn that I used for this project was some pretty basic acrylic stuff that I had lying around from some previous yarn-buying frenzy. The colour palette was inspired by a range of clothes that Gorman had in store at the time. It was pointed out to me while I was making this that these also happen to be the colours for Women's Sufferage, which was completely unintentional but I love it.

The pattern was pretty easy to follow. I think I ended up adding a few extra rows just to give the vest a bit more length and to account for the difference in yarn weight. Once I had finished the main shape of the vest, I added the ribbed hem to the edges.

And then... well let's just say I REALLY didn't feel like weaving in the ends from all the colour changes. This project sat nearly finished for the rest of the year until I finally told myself I had to finish it before I moved. I did eventually get it done, but not before coming to the decision that I should definitely start weaving as I go (watch me not stick to that). I then finished it off by pinning and blocking it with the iron just to make it sit better.

This was a really fun project, and surprisingly not too tedious (ignoring the end bit), like I imagine clothes can often be. The inspo song for this project is Music for a Sushi Restaurant by Harry Styles, partially because of the vest inspiration and because the colours remind me of matcha, rice and purple yam (although that's more Filipino than Japanese). I also was listening to that song a lot around the time I was working on this project.

Alice xx