A few weeks ago, I was pretty bummed when I didn't get a chance to test-knit the gorgeous Sunkissed top and I didn't want to wait for the pattern to come out, so I decided to make my own summer top. I used the pattern for the Breeze Racerback by Jessie Mae as the base and substituted the stockinette stitch on the back with a lace pattern that I found in the Estonian book 'Pitsilised koekirjad' by Leili Reimann. The yarn I used is Catania from Schachenmayr in a gorgeous coral/watermelon colourway.
The pattern in the book was written for knitting flat, so I had to redraw it for knitting in the round. It was actually way easier to knit it in the round, and I was a bit worried that there would be a visible difference in tension with the one repeat that I knit flat (the part between the shoulders), but it all evened out nicely with blocking. Of course, I couldn't resist getting some new toys to block it with:
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| Please excuse the fact that the colours are a bit off, I took the picture when it was already dark. |
Anyway, I am chuffed with the end result and have worn it outside on a few occasions already. I am sure it will find lots of use this summer!
After completing this top, which took me roughly four days, I decided that I also needed a summery tee with some lace. As luck would have it, Sari Nordlund had just published the pattern for the Seleste tee, which is the summer version of her Seleste pullover. The original hadn't really called to me, but having a short-sleeved cotton version with the Estonian-inspired lace yoke seemed like a great idea, so I ordered some yarn (Rowan Cotton Cashmere in the colourway Dark Olive, by the way) and got busy. After having to redo 17 rows of the lace yoke because I missed reading one line in the explanations for the chart the first time, and then redoing the short row shaping because I put an increase in the wrong place, I have finally moved on to the body decreases:
It should all be smooth sailing from here and I'm hoping to have the top ready by midsummer. I have plenty of football to watch while doing some mindless knitting :D
As for how my aunt's Sulo cardigan is going... don't ask 😬
