Wearing my Coze Vest. I don’t have any string, but I got plenty of yarn. :)
COZE VEST Favourite & Queue on Ravelry
This is one of those patterns I had to write because I only have two hands, and 24 hours in a day, and I simply can’t do it all by myself. Knit all the amazing variations, I mean. That’s where you come in, dear knitter. Together, we can do this!
I’m terrible at coming up with names for patterns. I don’t know, maybe I have too many criteria (multiple connotations, a nice ring, appropriateness, etc.), but at any rate, I’ve been reading a lot of Georgette Heyer recently and I love the phrase “a comfortable coze”, meaning a tête-à-tête, so I finally alighted on ‘Coze’ as a name for this vest. The OED informs me that the word was probably derived from French ‘causer‘ (to chat), and cites a quotation which uses it as a verb: ‘cozing’. Just like a good book, I think of these knitting patterns as our way of having a comfortable coze, and a cosy one, at that.
The vest is amazingly simple. It’s made up of 2 garter stitch rectangles – nothing but the knit stitch, over and over. This means that even a beginner can knit it, and even a beginner could figure out how to substitute a stitch pattern for garter stitch. For example, any of the patterns from The Little eBook of Knitting Stitches would look lovely.
If you’re sensible & orderly & don’t like ripping out knitting…
If you’re like me & just can’t be bothered…
The specs for my vest are as follows:
The first piece is 38cm/15in wide and 34cm/13in tall.
The second piece is 25cm/10in wide and 110cm/43in long.
My gauge is 14sts x 25 rows in 10cm/4in.
I used up all of 200gr of heavy DK-weight wool (approx. 400m/437yds) with 5mm/US 8 needles.
I do hope you’ll join me in cozing. Just ‘cos. :)
I found out via the Berroco Design Blog that a group of Ravelers are celebrating Vest-uary, by knitting a vest (or slipover for us Brits) during February. Punning is obligatory. I am working on the baby version of the Houses Slipover, but the temptation is great to knit another slipover for myself. They are very versatile and I wear mine constantly.
In between knitting, I have also been working on starting my latest adventure, the Laylock Press, a private electronic press, charged forthwith with publishing Laylock knitting patterns. The aim is to give the PDF-design side of the Laylock patterns the attention it deserves, while providing an outlet for publishing various other pieces I have in mind. I will be posting postulations about pattern layout over there, so I hope you will take time to visit & subscribe.