Ainur Berkimbayeva For Purl Soho: Air Mail Vest
The overlapping lines of Ainur Berkimbayeva’s Air Mail Vest remind us of the rare letter received in the post, the folds and contours of the envelope itself, as well as the excitement of discovering thoughts put into shape. We always love to see what’s on Ainur’s mind!
The Air Mail Vest is a wonderful knit that combines an open, relaxed fit with crisp design details, including tidy decreases and an elegant twisted rib stitch pattern.
To make this vest, you knit identical front and back pieces from the bottom up and join them at the shoulders. You then overlap the sloping edges of the two pieces, knitting them together as you complete the hem in the round.
The lovely drape of this piece comes from our wondrously soft Season Alpaca, a 100% super baby alpaca yarn of the most special grade of alpaca available. It is Fair Trade Certified and comes in twenty-two beautiful colors, including gentle River Pink and soft Dove Gray, which we used here. Thank you, Ainur, for this very special delivery!
Designed for Purl Soho by Ainur Berkimbayeva.
Share your progress and connect with the community by tagging your pics with #PurlSoho, #PurlSohoBusyHands, #PurlSohoAirMailVest and #PurlSohoSeasonAlpaca. We can’t wait to see what you make!
Materials
- 4 (4, 5, 6) (6, 7, 8) (8, 9, 9) skeins of Purl Soho’s Season Alpaca, 100% super baby alpaca. Each skein is approximately 218 yards/ 100 grams; approximately 775 (870, 955, 1190) (1290, 1450, 1600) (1660, 1825, 2060) yards required. We used the colors River Pink and Dove Gray.
- Two US 3 (3.25 mm), 32-inch circular needles
- US 3, 16-inch circular needles
- US D (3.25mm) crochet hook for Provisional Cast-On
- Scrap yarn for Provisional Cast-On
- A stitch marker
- Stitch holders or scrap yarn
- An Air Mail Vest Pattern
GAUGE
35 stitches and 31 rows = 4 inches in Twisted Rib stitch (see Special Instructions)
SIZES
Note: The vest is open at the sides, making plenty of room for the chest. Choose your size based on hip measurement.
36 (39¼, 42½, 45¾) (49, 52, 55¼) (58½, 61¾, 65)
To fit actual hip circumferences of 34-38 (37-41, 40½-44½, 44-48) (47-51, 50-54, 53-57) (56½-60½, 60-64, 63-67) inches with approximately negative 2 inches to positive 2 inches of ease
- Finished Hip Circumference: 36 (39¼, 42½, 45¾) (49, 52, 55¼) (58½, 61¾, 65)) inches
- Finished Length from Shoulder to Bottom Edge: 21 (21¾, 22, 23¼) (23½, 24¾, 26) (25½, 26½, 27¾) inches
Samples: The Dove Gray vest is size 39¼ and the River Pink vest is size 49, worn with 1½ inches of positive ease.
Pattern
The Air Mail Vest is available for purchase as a PDF download only.
Questions please! Is this considered seamless? Also are there other compatible yarns? Last, is this an intermediate pattern? Thanks!
Hi Judy,
Thanks for writing in. I’d be happy to answer your questions!
1. There are a few seams you’ll need to sew in this pattern–just seaming the shoulders together!
2. Most of our other sportweight yarns would be perfect for this pattern. I’d recommend Good Wool in particular.
3. I’d say that this is a beginner/intermediate pattern. But if you’re unfamiliar with any of the techniques used, the pattern provides links to our tutorials on them. You can also always reach out to us for clarification on anything that’s confusing or difficult for you!
I hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili
Hello! Another question please. Would I be able to use standard knit and purl stitches with this pattern and be successful? Thanks!
Hi Judy,
Unfortunately, using standard knit and purl stitches rather than twisted stitches will not work well for this pattern. This is because they create an entirely different gauge and fabric quality! Normal 1 x 1 ribbing is far more stretchy than twisted 1 x 1 ribbing, so it will create a much tighter-fitting garment. I’d recommend sticking to the pattern as written in this regard!
All the best,
Lili
Is it possible to make a shorter version of this vest? I would love to make a version of this that hits at cropped length so it can be worn with high waisted jeans or dress pants. At the length it hits now, tucking it in would hide the lovely details on the sides. If there is any way to modify this let me know!
Hi Lizzy,
Thanks for reaching out! You can definitely modify this vest to be a bit shorter. The easiest way to do that is remove most of the repeats of Rows 1 and 2 that occur near the end of the WORK TO BOTTOM OF V-NECK section. Another thing you can do to shorten the vest is cast on fewer stitches for both the front and back so that it takes fewer rows to decrease to the final stitch count of this section. This will just change the sides a little bit because they won’t overlap as much. Hope this helps!
All the best,
Lili