Top Down Baby Vest with Cables

US 5 circular needles and US 4 for the ribbed edge
2 skeins of Knit Picks Shine Sport Weight, in Hydrangea
Shine sport is 60% cotton, 40% modal and is washable.
I used just under 220 yards for this vest.
Size: This should fit my nephew at age 12-18 months.
Length is 12". Chest is 22". Armhole is 5", more or less. Crossback is 8"
Gauge 5.75 stitches, 7 rows per inch
k = knit 1
p = purl 1
st = stitch
PM = place marker
k1f/b = increase by knitting 1 in the front and back of the stitch
M1 = an increase between two stitches that creates a small decorative hole
RS = right side of the work
WS = wrong side of the work
inc = increase

Cast on 46 sts on US5 circular.
Knit in stockinette with non roll edges below, til the piece measures 4" endin after a WS row.
For the non roll edges, the first and last 3 stitches on each RS row look like p,k,p. (WS edges k,p,k)
Transfer these live stitches to another circular needle or to a waste yarn to keep on hold for later.

Go back to top edge and pick up 13sts on both shoulders, perfectly lined up with the 1st and last 13th sts. Use a new ball of yarn, working from both ends because you will need a different live yarn for each side of the front until we join in the round. (You left the first ball of yarn attached to the stitches on the back, I'm assuming) The 20 bound off sts in the center are the back neck, fyi.

Pick up sts working right to left with the tails on the right. Now starting on the wrong side, keepin the non roll pattern (WS=k,p,k) on the edges of the neck and sleeves, complete one row.
K p k, ppppppp, k p k is what it will look like from the wrong side. Add 2 PMs as you  do this WS row, one after the first 3 sts and the other before the last 3 sts. This reminds you to do the non roll edging each time AND it is where you will increase.

Now on a RS row we will begin the cable pattern. Everything I tell you on the RS will be the opposite on the WS in order to stay in pattern. Increases will happen only on the RS and will happen every OTHER RS row (these inc will create the V-neck shape). All inc are M1's which will create a knit stitch with a decorative hole. (If you prefer no hole you could replace with a k1f/b-same difference).  ***If you want to do something different than what I did, you could make the right and left front panels wider at the side of the V's. Thats probably a good idea. To do this, you would just increase every RS row for the first several rows. You would end up stopping at the same place any, when the number of front stitches matches the number of back stitches and you join the V. This option is clearly for people who can wing it.***

So RS the pattern is this for the first 13 sts (right shoulder):
P k p, PM p p k k k k p , p k p

And the 2nd 13 sts (left shoulder) are like this:
P k p, p p k k k k p PM, p k p

On this first RS row you will inc with a M1 after the first PM and again before the second PM (the PMs should always be 3 sts from the edges, and this will keep them so).

The left shoulder, WS, is this:
K p k,PM k p p p p k k p ,k p k

Second row, which is a wrong side with no inc looks like this:
K p k,PM p k k p p p p k ,k p k (notice there r 14 sts)

This is how you continue in pattern, doing your increases every other RS row, and crossing your cables when necessary, as I'm about to describe. I'm not gonna give you row by row instructions because that would make my head explode.

On the next RS row, we are going to do our first cable cross. We will cross the cables, always toward the center front, every 8 rows and always on a RS row. (You can vary that as you like, just keep it consistant.) This is a 2 + 2 cable, set off by 2 purl sts on both sides (i.e. reverse stockinette). Since its only 2 sts, I'm not going to use a cable needle, just a little plastic sewing needle I have. So, as we know, the first 14 sts on the shoulder look like this
P k p, k p p (k k) k k p, p k p. Those (k k) sts will be held forward and knit after the next 2 knit sts, creating the cable cross. (Look at a 2+2 cable on youtube if you don't get it.)

On the other shoulder the knit sts will be held to the back of the work, until you knit the two sts that follow and then you will pull them forward and knit them. This will cross the cable in the other direction.

Here's what they look like P k p, p p (k k) k k p PM, p k p

(Btw...no inc this row- only every other row, ***unless you have decided to wing it.)

Now continue building the pattern according to these directions until you have 40 front stitches  (20 + 20). Now start increasing on EVERY RS row (instead of every other.) until you are at 23 + 23 or 46 total stitches (same as the back panel) and the front panel measure almost 4.5", so it is longer back panel.

The V neck is now ready to be joined into one front panel.

When you are at the beginning of a RS row with the 23 + 23 sts, this is when you cut the yarn (leaving a tail to weave in) at the left side and join the two sides of the V neck together. The front of the swtr is 5 " long now. (The back side will have to b 5" long too b4 we start the shaping.)  Now we will do the armhole shaping by continuing to m1 every RS row at the PM. (We will do the same shaping on the back, when we pick it back up, before we join in the round).

Here's the math we are currently working with:
On the unjoined front and back now, we have 46 + 46 sts which equals 92 sts around, total. For a 22" chest we will need 126 sts around. So 126 minus 92 is 34 sts to increase! Oy. That is a LOT of stitches to increase if I would wait until we join the front in back, so Im going to slip some extra stitches in as I do the armshaping and then do exactly the same thing on the back. Here is what I did.

On this RS row I'm going to m1 incr in the regular place next to the PM (which makes+2 on the front) and then ALSO k1f/b 2 times on the next 2 knit sts. It will look like this:
P k p, PM(m1) (k1f/b)(k1f/b)k k k k k k k k p p k k k k p ,p k p
Also, this first time through, as I connected the 2 front sections, I changed the 2 center purl sts to knit sts instead, AND made that stitch a k1f/b. So, that means the p in bold and the one next to it (as you join), will both become a k1f/b. You will mirror image the other side and 8 total sts will be added to the fron by the time you finish this row.. (By the way....Originally, I didn't increase those center front stitches until after I had joined them, that is why the area of stockinette under my V doesn't look as pretty as it could)

Do WS row staying in pattern.
Increase another 6 sts across the front in the same way you just did (except doing doing the k1f/b's that you did at the center front again).

Ok moving back to the live sts that we left on waste yarn on the back. I left them on another circular needle, so I'm just gonna knit them back onto the size 5s and then purl a WS row and then start the arm shaping to match what we did on the front. So the front section before we did the armhole shaping was about 4.5" long and we left the back ar 4" long so, its good to add a stockinette row or maybe 2 to make it the same length as the front, before shaping. I'm going to leave the front a little longer because it looks fine to me (and because the arm hole is gettin larger than I want it. But I figure...its a vest, that doesn't matter that much. He will wear something under it anyway.)

So, once you start the armhole shaping on the back mirroring what you did in the front, you will have 4 rows (RS, WS, RS, WS--you will increase 8 stitch on the 1st RS row, 6 sts on the 2nd RS row for a total of 14 added sts) in the back before we join in the round. So, on this next RS row, I'm going do 2 m1's that will decorative holes, in the same spots as I did on th front, (I.e. After the 3rd st and then at the point 3 fr the end). And I'm gonna do the rest of the increases as k1f/b. You can spread them evenly over the length of the row, or do them at both ends like on the front.

Armhole shaping on the back, to match the front:
RS row 1: p k p (m1, k1f/b, k1f/b, k1f/b)...k a bunch...5 sts from the end k1f/b, k1f/b, k1f/b, m1 p k p.
WS row 2: Normal row in pattern, with no increases.
RS row 3: p k p (m1, k1f/b, k1f/b...k a bunch...5 sts from the end k1f/b, k1f/b,  m1 p k p
WS row 4: Stay in pattern, no increase.
You have increased a total of 14 sts, for armhole shaping, on the back. The chest will now measure approximately 22" when we join in the round.

Join front and back in the round.
Ok, join in the round. I'm on a RS row on the back section now. We have 60 sts on the back and 60 on the front. 120 total when join. To get a 22" chest we need 6 more sts.  So that is 3 under each armpit.
Hmmmm. I'm gonna do 8 with my fav k1f/b addin 4 total under each armpit . So since we no longer need the non roll edges (pkp) as I do this RS row I will knit all the stitches. And k1f/b for the first 2 and the last 2 sts on both the front and back sections. By the time I finish this RS row there will b 128 sts total and it will be joined in the round. As you move on to the front section notice when you hit the purl stitch that is the beginning of the cable pattern, don't forget it. Place a marker there to remind you. We will continue those cables down the front just as we have been doing.  The cable pattern now looks like this (RS), with the place marker
PMp  p k k k k p p k k k k k k p p kk k k p p. Note we have a new strip of stockinette at the center front for the sweater, between the two cables that are continuing. Also, the rest of the sweater is in stockinette, so now that we are in the round, its just a bunch of knit stitches, hurrah!

Continue knitting until the total garmet is 11.5 inches or your desired length. K2tog at any point, to bring the stitch count to down to 127, so that it works with the ribbing we are doing.

Switch to size 4 needles and do 4 rows of k2 p1 ribbing.
Bind off in pattern on the 5th row.
Weave in your ends.
Block.
Done!
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This photo is the first vest I did of this style (for Easter...that's a bunny, not an alien on the back. Ok...an alien bunny). It is a smaller size (6 to 9 months --20" chest) and done with Cotton Ease yarn. I will post the basic info on this later, in case you'd like to make a smaller size.

And here is our young model...and my inspiration :)