Knitweave Scarfvest

This is a lightweight vest (or scarf) and drapes slightly around the neck. Look at the picture, you can see light through the fabric, I would never knit this sock yarn alone at this high tension but I believe knitting it loosely with no weights helped with the edges rolling problem.

Machine: Silver Reed LK 150

Knitting Yarn: 3-50g balls of Red Heart Heart & Sole with Aloe (I purchased this at Hobby Lobby This is a superwash wool sock yarn).

Weaving Yarn: 1-50g ball Queensland Collection, Kathmandu Aran Tweed double knit weight wool, 85% Merino Wool, 10% Silk, 5% Cashmere.
(any wool yarn will work for this but since it only takes 1 ball, make it special. I highly recommend a wool blend for this project because it steams flat easier than acrylic.

4 buttons

Final Measurement: 6 inches wide x 40 inches long on the straight sides plus the 2 pointed ends

Gauge:Woven Swatch - 6 sts and 8 rows per inch with 1 strand of Red Heart and 1 strand of the weaving yarn.

Machine:This was knitted on the LK 150 but I used the LK 140 carriage which knits looser than the LK 150 carriage. I used a loose tension (4), probably if I had use the LK 150 carriage I would have to use a tension 5 to match the gauge I got with this carriage. I purposely knitted it loose and used no weights to help eliminate curly edges. You can see light through the fabric when you hold it up but that’s ok, its soft and lightweight and wonderful to wear.

How to Weave on the LK 150:I used a 1x1 weave, over one, under the next, alternating every row. To weave just place the weaving yarn in front of you in a bowl or something that will keep it from rolling all over the floor, don't use the antenna. Leave the knit (background) yarn in the antenna as normal. As you weave, pull forward every other needle as you get to it. Needle 1, put the weaving yarn over the needle, back against the bed, needle 2 put the weaving yarn under, alternating over every other needle. Then knit the row with your Red Heart yarn. Next row alternate the over and under needles so those that you put over last row, put under this row, be sure to pull out the needles as you get to them. If you have a weaving carriage, follow the directions that came with it.

Knitting Directions:
E-Wrap cast on 2 stitches with your Red Heart Yarn. Hold the stitches with your hand under the bed rather than using weights or use a lightweight plastic clothespin to hold it down but don’t use anything heavy. Remove the clothes pin ASAP. K across.

Begin Knitweaving:
Row 1. Weave under 1 stitch and over the second stitch. Knit across with the Red Heart yarn in the carriage.

Begin increasing every row on carriage side.
Row 2.Increase on carriage side, continue weaving, your first row was over/under and you’ve added a stitch, this row will be under/over/under. Continue this sequence increasing 1 stitch carriage side each row until you have 12 stitches each side, or until your piece is 6 inches wide.

Continue knit weaving until your scarf is 34 inches long (row 272)or, with a tape measure, drape 40 inches around your neck as a scarf, go to your mirror and make a note where you want the first buttonhole. You’ll want the 4th buttonhole to end about 2 rows before the end of your 40 inches. Place 2 more buttonholes evenly between the first and last. or just follow my directions below:

Mark for buttonholes:
At Row 272 mark the left side edge with contrast yarn for your first buttonhole.
Continue knitweaving, mark your second buttonhole at row 288.
Mark row 304 and finally at row 318.
Knit 2 more rows, you will be at row 320 or 40 inches.

Begin decreasing every row carriage side until you have 2 stitches left, weaving every row as you did on the other side. Bind off those 2 stitches.

Knitting Machine Crochet-Like Trim:
Use 2 strands of Red Heart’s Heart and Sole

Knit-crochet your edges using the Crab Stitch technique on your machine from Charlene Tate's web page, http://charmknits.com/crochet-like-trims.htm WARNING: Work a few rows and check to make sure your work isn’t puckering from putting the stitches too close together. If they are, take out that bit and do it again, skipping a stitch to keep the work flat. Charlene suggests you skip every 6th stitch.

Start with the base stitch: Begin with the right side of the garment facing you, working from R to L, pick up the first full fabric st and hang on a ndl. K 2 rws. Pick up bump under st and hang on ndl to the R of the ndl. K 2 rws. Two ndls are now in work and a base st is finished.

Continue with the Crab Stitch Technique: With a single prong tool, pick up next fabric st and hang on new ndl to the L of the L ndl. Transfer R st to new L ndl and put empty ndl out of work (A) position. (Original L ndl becomes R ndl.) K 2 rws. Repeat until last fabric st remains. On the Curves, do the stitch twice to help keep the shape correct. To end, hang last fabric st on L ndl and transfer st on R ndl to L ndl. K 1 rw.

When finished with the first row, go around 1 more time. This time pick up the bars between the bump from the first crochet row. When you get to the buttonhole markers make your buttonholes by knitting 4 stitches in the same space before continuing with the crab stitch (sort of like making a chain if you were crocheting. Before you continue, make sure your button will fit through but not too loose, you don’t want it to come unbuttoned when you are wearing it. If you prefer, just crochet a chain after you get the work off the needles.

To finish your scarfvest, if you’ve used wool you can actually steam with your steam iron and press down hard shaping it as you steam. I folded mine in half to keep the shape the same on both side. Weave in all ends and sew your buttons on. you’re ready to wear.

Double click on the diagram to see the measurements

If you’d like to make this scarfvest on any other machine, make a tension swatch. Get out your calculator and start with 2 needles, ewrap cast on, increase every stitch every row on carriage side until you have a 6 inch width. Continue knitweaving every row until your piece is 40 inches long. Decrease down to 2 stitches. Repeat the Crochet-Like Trim as above. Sorry but I have no idea how many balls of the yarn it will take. If you buy extra you can always make a pair of socks with the Red Heart yarn. Remember, no weights and knit it loose enough that it holds it shape but is a bit drapey.

Scarfvest is finished

Here it is finally, the scarfvest I've been working on forever (it seems like it anyway). Its knitweave, the knitting yarn is Red Heart's Heart and Sole, a sock yarn, superwash wool, spun with aloe. I really like the yarn and will definitely use it again. The weaving yarn is a double knit wool that I bought in a yarn shop in Wisconsin while visiting over Christmas.

You can probably tell from the pictures I knitted it pretty loose because I had a theory that one of the reasons our machine knit edges curl so much is because the machine has it stretched tight horizontally and we have it stretched tight vertically with weights. So--I used no weights and knitted it looser than I usually do. The edges still rolled a little but nothing like they usually do.

I solved the slight roll by doing machine knit crochet edges. I knew that Charlene Tate has several how-to-crochet by machine on her web site at www.charmknits.com/ I did the Crab Stitch which is a backward single crochet all the way around. When I was finished I decided to do 1 more row. Normally you wouldn't do 2 rows of crab stitch but I like the way this looks, probably a bit different than if I had crocheted it by hand but I'll never crochet by hand again unless I have to do a stitch that isn't on Charlene's web page. To make the buttonholes I did sort of a chain stitch (on the machine) as I got to the place where I had left a buttonhole marker, I just knitted 4 rows on 1 stitch, then joined it by continuing on with the crab stitch, hard to explain but it worked.

Tomorrow I'll get my notes out and see if I can write up how I made this thing, right now I can't remember exactly how many stitches I used and exactly how I did the tuxedo ends but I wrote it all down.