Femøren by Sanne Bjerregaard
Since making the Belle Vest, I’ve been on a bit of a hunt for another vest pattern to make. When I saw Femøren by Sanne Bjerregaard I knew that it was the perfect vest project for some stash busting!
I have had three skeins of Caron Simply Soft in Pagoda sitting in my stash for nearly four years. I received this yarn as part of a Reddit Secret Santa many years ago, and it has just been waiting for the perfect project to come along. As a bonus, teal is one of my girlfriend’s favorite colors, so it was great to be able to use it in a project for her!
Always do a test swatch!
From swatching, I was able to determine that I should use 5mm needles for the body, and 3.25mm needles for the rib. I knit rather tightly, so predictably, I sized up both needles. I liked how my swatch looked so much I ended up keeping it! However this means I have to figure out what to do with my growing swatch collection…
Humble beginnings
This vest was knit top down. Generally, I have preferred making sweaters and vests from the bottom up. In my opinion, it it a lot easier to do neck shaping when the garment is worked flat. This vest, however, used a new technique that I hadn’t seen before. Every other time I have knit a top down sweater, I have cast on all of the neck stitches in the round, worked the ribbing, and then done shoulder/neck shaping. For this vest, about half the neck stitches are cast on and the piece is worked flat. Stitches are added strategically for neck and shoulder shaping until the fabric is long enough to be joined in the round, making both the cast on edge and the sides of the work into the neck hole. The collar is picked up and knit at the end.
At first, I found this style of neck very confusing and wasn’t sure if I was even going to get a garment out of it, but I persisted and it started looking more like clothing as I went. The result is some of the best neck shaping I’ve ever had on a top down sweater, and a very clean look to the shoulder. Now that I’ve done it, I think this would be my preferred construction method for a top down sweater!
The only real deviation I made from the pattern was to use the larger needles for the rib at the bottom of the sweater, and to use a stretchy bind off for that edge. I did this because I didn’t want the bottom of the vest to cinch in and instead to hang straight down.
My kitty, Macklemore
My friend’s kitty, Phoebe
I really can’t figure out why, but this yarn seemed particularly attractive to the cats. My kitty would not stop trying to lie on it at every opportunity. When I brought my project with me to work on at a friend’s, THEIR kitty kept playing with the ball of yarn! I know that some cats can be attracted to plastic, which 100% yarn technically is, but I’ve never had this reaction from any other acrylic yarn I’ve used. If anyone has insight into this, please let me know, I need to know the science behind this.