My challenge this year has been to systematically apply body shaping to stranded knitting patterns in order to adapt them to my curvy figure. I am a huge fan of designers like Marie Wallin, who produces gorgeous colorful designs every year. They are often designed in quite boxy shapes which are not flattering on me, so my challenge has been to find a way to adapt them. My first step in 2022 was to knit a template garment with the perfect fit, the Clara vest by Kim Hargreaves.
I found the Clara vest in Kim’s book Amber, a Winter Gathering. I knitted it using Rowan wool cotton 4ply at 28 sts to 4 inches, which is the same gauge of Marie Wallin’s British Breeds yarn when it is stranded. Once I knitted my Clara vest and determined the fit suited me , I could use that garment as the template for the stranded vests I will be making this year. For my first stranded vest, I have chosen Keris by Marie Wallin. This high-necked vest uses 14 colors of British Breeds in a complex color design that can be broken down into combinations of two colors on each row. I cast on the same number of stitches for my Keris vest as I had used for my Clara vest, and used the same needle sizes. Size 1 for the ribbing and size 2 for the stranded colorwork. I reduced 1 stitch at each end every 4 rows until I reached the waist, knitted 9 rows straight, and then increased stitches at each end until I had the medium-size stitch count again for the bust.
Adding shaping to a stranded project is challenging, especially using a Marie Wallin chart where the yarn colors and patterns frequently change. But I had my schematic of stitch counts for each area of the vest, mapping the increases and decreases in my notebook which I had drawn after finishing my Clara vest, so I knew exactly what to do. I am delighted with the result. My Keris fits me just as well as my Clara vest does, and the combination of subtle, grey-toned colors allows me to combine the vest with many different items in my wardrobe, such as the Hollyburn skirt I sewed with indie fabric in the image above. This project proves that we curvy girls may need to work a bit harder to get a good fit in a stranded garment, but the goal is achievable. I also feel that choosing a vest with all-over pattern rather than a pullover may be more flattering for those of us with wider chest measurements, as the bare arms or contrasting unicolor sleeves underneath such a busy vest can provide relief and draw the eye from focusing so much on the upper chest area.
I purchased the Keris kit from The Wooly Thistle yarn store, and my Keris received a little shoutout in their recent The Woolly Thistle shopcast, episode 180 on youtube [56 minutes in]. Obviously, adding curves to a stranded garment is much easier to accomplish in a vest where one is only adapting hip, waist and bust shaping, rather than a yoke sweater or other full-size garment where there are many more variables. So I will be sticking with knitting vests for some time. Good thing vests are super trendy right now! My next project will use the same schematic and shaping. I will again use Marie Wallin’s British Breeds yarn to ensure consistency in size and gauge but this time, I will create my own color scheme. I’ll keep you posted on my results!