>Not to be taken for Abydos, an ancient ruined city in central Egypt, this Abydos is named after the planet encountered during the first trip through the stargate (Stargate the film and Stargate SG-1 the series). Although the accepted pronunciation of the ancient city is uh-BYE-des, I prefer the less awkward AB-ih-dose as used by SG-1. Don’t think me odd. If you create a Venn diagram with science fiction fans in one set and crocheters in another set, you will find me (along with MANY others) waving at you from the intersection!

The Abydos Vest from Amazing Crochet Lace has nothing to do with ancient Egypt or science fiction and everything to do with exploded stitch patterns. The inspiration for this design was drawn from a pattern booklet published in 1970, Bernat presents Moods in Fashion; “The Open Look”, which my mom picked up for me at a flea market for, like, 50 cents. How cool is Mom!

What immediately impressed me was how these garments, considered trendy nearly 40 years ago, have once again become trendy. It seemed everyone was falling all over themselves to rediscover and resurrect crochet fashions from the 70’s. I was totally enthralled. With just a bit of tweaking, an injection of modern yarns, resizing for current body standards, nearly everything in that booklet could be made and worn today.

I started with one of the bold, open stitch patterns featuring rows of triple crochet shells and V’s, and worked out a pullover vest in my usual MO (seamless, top-down). It was astounding how quickly I could get a wearable to fly off my hook. That year I must have made half a dozen vests to give as holiday gifts to relatives and friends.

Those gift vests were crocheted with fairly thick yarns for cold-weather layering and in hindsight were a tad clunky. So a couple of years later, when I decided to give this design a place in my first book, I knew I had to swap out the yarn for something dressier and more refined. I considered two yarns that are sportweight, some might say fingering weight, and made two garment samples, one cropped short and one tunic length, worked in a relaxed gauge for maximum laciness.

GEE WHIZ, I couldn’t choose between the two yarns OR the two lengths, so I included both versions in the book. This vest is a cinch to adjust for length, so don’t feel you have to go with what’s in the photography. Heck, I didn’t when I made my own Abydos.

Mine is done in Filatura Di Crosa Brilla, #404 a milk-chocolatey brown. Doubledogdangit if I couldn’t match my own gauge, so I had to mess with the stitch count. I added one repeat each side when I got to the underarms. Yes, I cheated. So sue me! I also made mine an inbetween length; long enough to cover the midsection yet short enough so I can still reach my pants pockets.