My heart is in it, and I can’t wait to be the cutest thing ever this fall. A little while back I preview/test knit the Pelica Vest for Rosa Pomar and to quote Rosa “The inspiration for this design came from two traditional garments I have long admired: The Portuguese samarra or pelica, the sheepskin vest worn by shepherds in the Alentejo, and the Austrian boiled wool lodenweste.”
I was romanced with its creative construction and thoughtful details: Rustic garter stitch surrounded by a tailored rolled edge, that built in i-cord adds a supportive clean finish all around, no seaming, all the cozy layering options, simplistic buttonholes.
(Available on Rosa’s website Retrosaria and Ravelry.)
Paired up with my favorite linen sack dress, classic hobbit, but also kinda tender.
It was a private test so I wasn’t able to show too much of anything anywhere at the time, and then as I sometimes do I just submerged into myself for months ..but I always enjoy taking photos, so I still did that a little bit, let me show you.
I find working shots utterly beautiful, I’m not entirely sure what it is about the composition that makes them a favorite, but when they hit just right, it changes my brain. I also really love to see everyones tools, notions and supplies, bonus if it captures a corner of mundane life or a blurry pet in the background.
The key for me is not too staged, but honestly still a little staged. Keep it simple, just the sweetest eyelet curtain, late day lowlight and a half way there vest.
Wooden buttons, structure and little painted peonies.
Wet blocked and air dried a few hours, then tossed in the dryer for just the slightest tightening up.
I know you wouldn’t normally do that to wool, but between adjusting and re-adjusting the damp vest into shape, I stretched out the garter ridges, a little felting was exactly what it was asking for. The fabric squeezed right back into place, garter, I like it best dense and plump.
The start of my three piece suit.
Short version – 20½”
Four buttons and practically perfect ..it literally just is, every single version of this vest I’ve seen around is just as wonderful, I love that in a pattern.
Same vest / different dress
Waiting patiently.
chalklegs.com 
Gorgeous pictures!
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Yours is lovely. I’m working on one, but just can’t get the icord right where the back neck and shoulder meet. You know, the tricky part at the neck, after you pick up half of the cast on stitches and knit the applied icord. Where you have to rotate the last three stitches. Mine just looks all lumpy. I’ve done it over a few times now. Any thoughts that you could share to help? I’d love to make a couple of these if I can work it out. I can’t seem to find any online help and have no one local I can ask. Thanks much, if you see this and respond.
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I absolutely know that tricky part! I remember a few of us testers remarking we had a lump at the join (if you look at my pictures you can see it’s not perfect there). I just pulled out my test copy to see if I put any notes in that section, sadly I didn’t :(
I recommend trying to keep your stitches loose, and once you’ve finished, roll that lumpy bit between your fingers or use the tip of your needle to adjust the stitches to try and get it to blend away. I even tried making my stitches tighter in that area just to see if it made a difference. I think it has something to do with having two starting tails/knots butted up together, maybe there’s a different graft that could be tried? I hope this helps, it’s such a good vest, with great details!
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Thanks. Mine is more than just lumpy. It’s ugly. I think I’m turning those stitches wrong, but I can’t work out how they’re supposed to be “rotated”. Each one individually? All three together? Rotate towards the front or back? The picture doesn’t help me, and “clockwise” doesn’t help me on a horizontal plane. I’m sure I’m over thinking it somehow, but I struggle with spatial things. It happens in sewing too. I have a lot of “HUH?” moments.
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Thanks. Mine is more than lumpy, it’s UGLY. I can’t work out how to rotate those three stitches – is it rotating each stitch individually IN PLACE? Or all three together as a GROUP? And if it’s all three together, is it rotated by bringing stitch #3 behind #2 & #1, or in front of them? The picture is from the front, we’re working from the back, and the little circle with the arrow doesn’t help me. It’s flat, and knitting is 3D and I struggle with spatial stuff anyway. I literally frogged the back the first time because I made such a mess of it, dropped stitches, lost my mind. Trying not to do that again. 🙂 It’s weird because I’m an experienced knitter but the instructions for this tiny bit are doing me in. If you remember whether you did it as a group of 3, or each one separately that could be a big help. Thanks!!
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I can’t completely remember, but I wanna say I did each individually because that worked best for me. Ugh I’m sorry it’s been a struggle. I remember when we were testing this vest, there was an icord join section at the very end to finish and I commented that I had to rotate my stitches to get it to work, and no one else in the group had to do that!?! So I totally get that feeling like why can’t I get this, why doesn’t it compute! You got this!
P.S You could always try reaching out to the designer via Ravelry or she might have a contact on her website retrosaria.rosapomar.com
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