The Vest that Never Was, or Making a Shrug from a Rectangle

Last year sometime I decided to make a vest from a book I got when I was learning to crochet, "Learn to Crochet in Just One Day." The patterns are a little old-fashioned, but I found the instructions to be super useful, if you're looking to learn how to crochet. In any case, I really liked the hole-y pattern of this vest, and I planned to change it up a little to make it less 80's looking. I had some pretty pink wool yarn I had gotten at Michael's on sale for super cheap, and for some reason at the time I thought this project would be super easy.

Awesome 80's school picture

In any case, I got about half-way through the pattern and stopped (I hate shaping around the chest area and making armpit holes), then decided to pick it back up this year when I was de-stashing my yarn. Tried it on again, wrapped it around me, and then realized (re-remembered?) that I had not made it wide enough to fit around my tummy. Oops. I had worked pretty hard to get as far as I had, and I really liked how nice the fabric looked, so I was determined not to waste my effort.

I had read in a Lion yarn newsletter about turning a rectangle into a shrug, and Wa-La! I had my inspiration. Creating this shrug was so super simple, any beginning crochet or knit-er could do this project with a little patience. In a nutshell, crochet a rectangle that is long enough to cover the bottom of your shoulder blades. For this piece, I did crochet one, skip a stitch, etc. in order to get the pretty holes. You could use any pattern you like so long as it produces a nice rectangle shape. Then I turned the rectangle inside out and slip stitched a seam up until about my armpits and flipped it right side out. I went around the armholes in a single crochet for about 5 rounds just to give them a more distinct shape. Be sure to check out the above blog link if you decide to try this, or leave a comment if you have any questions.

To finish, I slipped some flocked ribbon around the arm holes to make them a little tighter. Here is how it turned out:

I was pretty happy with how this turned out, and am so excited to wear this around town! =)