You may have heard me talking before about how I go to my friend Leigh‘s once a month to eat and drink with a bunch of creative women, who all bring some kind of handcrafty thing to work on for the evening. Last week, my friend Liz showed up with some mending in tow, including this vintage Dries Van Noten sweater vest, which I promptly stole from her. (Temporarily! I’ll give it back.) (Probably.) (I mean, she knows where I live.)
It’s an argyle sweater vest, right? Except it’s Dries Van Noten’s take on an argyle sweater vest. It’s bright blue and grey on the bottom; grey, green and another blue up top. It has pink ribbing around the neck and armholes, and a zipper halfway up one side. It’s crazy and amazing, but can we talk about the stitch pattern? I honestly can’t figure out what’s going on here, especially with the sort of double-dashes that run across the diamonds and appear to be simply woven straight across the fabric. If you have thoughts on how any of it is done, please disclose below.
SPEAKING OF CRAZY: I don’t know if it’s the end of tax season or what, but I’m in the mood to pack edibles into the Fringe Supply Co. shipments again! So from now through Sunday, all orders $30 and up (not including shipping) will come with a ginger cookie — my treat.
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It looks like a cross between mosaic and double knitting to me.
Wow, that is cool. I didn’t notice the zipper until you mentioned it. I love this more relaxed interpretation of the argyle. I would keep it, if I was you! (Maybe you could demand a ransom for it.) I can’t help you with the stitch, though. (I’ve been totally obsessed with mending lately. You know it’s bad when you start a Pinterest board about it! http://www.pinterest.com/mjk/on-the-mend/ )
Looks like this was knit stranded and the unused yarn was carried wyif in strategic places.
I agree. It also looks like the diamond argyle pattern is done so that the triangles alternate right side/wrong side. But, it’s also double knit where the blue triangles are solid on the wrong side… Ok, mind officially blown.
I am going to put my vote in for double knitting. Looking at the blue reverse you show you can see the gray/white peeking through. I think that the dashes are slipping with yarn in front every other stitch in a staggered pattern.
But then it looks like there is rev stockinette going on there – man, this is wacky!
Wow. I’m of no use, other than to say “wow.” So beautiful, thanks for sharing!
Did you see the diamond stitch pattern on this beauty: http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/radon-pullover? It is similar. They both have a diamond-y allure, but I’d love to see the Radon sweater in neutrals, or mostly neutrals and a bright…
Are you sure it’s handknit? I have never tried to machine knit, but I believe the reverse of machine knitting can have this look…
Looking forward to hearing more about it, mlise
I have no idea — but this was retail, not runway, so it probably was machine knit. I don’t know enough about machine knitting capabilities to know how the stitch options vary from what a handknitter can do.
Interweave Knits covers woven stitches like this in its free social media – basically stranding without actually knitting the second color in. Haven’t seen anything exactly like this though..
On the white diamonds where the white it a knit stitch, the blue/green is carried alternately front and back, hence the woven look. On the blue/green diamonds where the b/g is a purl stitch, the white is “trapped” on the front of each purl stitch, so the back of the diamond is a solid color and the front is speckled. I don’t think this is double knitting or mosaic.
I agree- this was my thought too when I saw it. It’s a super- crazy and double-awesome stranding technique I think. I saw something similar- I think one of the Kelbourne Woolens women did a pattern using stranding similar this.
I agree, I’m seeing a mix of double knitting (blue diamonds on both sides) and stranding with the yarn held in front every other stitch. Hard to say, though. There could be some jacquard knitting at work: http://www.craftsy.com/article/jacquard-knitting-technique
It does look like a variation on the mosaic knitting technique, thought I can’t figure out the solid blue diamond on the back. Here is a mosaic pattern with diamonds that looks quite similar and you can see front and back in the project photos; it’s a free Ravelry download. I hope someone can find the answer.
http://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mosaic-diamonds-dishcloth
Actually, there are solid blue/green diamonds on only one side. If they were double knitted, there would be blue/green on one side and solid white on its reverse.
It’s some hybrid of stranded colorwork, not double knitting. Double knitting creates two layers of fabric, whereas this is one. You’ll note that there are 2 textures. In the second picture where the background is Main Color (oatmeal) Stockinette stitch, the Contrasting Color (green or blue) is slipped with yarn in front. Where the background is reverse Stockinette stitch, it looks like knit 1 row Main Color, knit 1 row Contrasting Color BUT knit 1 below. Just my guess, altho it doesn’t look like the stitches are elongated.
It’s mosaic knitting! I found a great old book of mosaic knitting patterns at my local library when I was just starting out and flipped out.
Just like with other stitch patterns, I think it’s harder to find patterns online so try to do it the old fashioned way and find a book. Really cool.
It’s not mosaic knitting, which has slipped stitches. The speckled diamonds would look better if it were mosaic.
I love knitting that baffles. This one’s incredible! And the colors!
Could it be inlaid? I’ve read about inlaid stitches in June Hemmons Hiatt’s The Principles of Knitting, but it’s not a technique I’ve ever tried.
Cool! Looks like stranded to me. I think the diamonds that appear solid on the inside, the contrasting color is just looped and carried with the natural color. And the other ones are alternating slipping the unused strand in front and back.
I totally agree, it’s stranded knitting. On the solid diamonds, the contrasting colour is carried along and twisted with the main yarn at every stitch. The “wrong” side of the vest makes it easier to understand. :-)
It’s Jacquard I think. I saw the term somewhere and googled it just a week ago. It described it as stranded knitting, that is usually done on a machine and gives you a reversible, double sided fabric. With the intended pattern on one side, and a dotted pattern on the other. Couldn’t find good images though.
If you google double jacquard, you’ll see several results that might be good enough to make a comparison.
Looks a bit like this one: https://www.ravelry.com/patterns/library/mosaic-diamonds-dishcloth
Mosaic knitting