Summer Green

Determined to enjoy my last two weeks of summer, I bring you a quick-and-dirty FO post:



Pattern: 65-6 Lace Top in Safran with short sleeves by DROPS design
Yarn: Reynolds Sunday Best, 5 skeins, and all but a teeny bit of the 6th

Comments: This is my second DROPS pattern, and like the first, it is a pattern that assumes some competence from the knitter, and as the knitter, you must fill in some technical details in the instructions. For example, when forming the scooped neckline, the instructions are for short-rows; you stop knitting in the round, and begin knitting back-and-forth, while knitting one fewer stitch on each neck edge every other row, but nowhere does it say to wrap-and-turn. Trust me when I say that your neckline will look terrible unless you wrap-and-turn. My advice for DROPS knitters is to listen to the inner knitter, and assume that they've left out some details. And wrap your short rows.

I usually make sweaters with no ease or negative ease, but this sweater is meant to be blousey, and the eyelet pattern requires a camisole or tank underneath. The secret to not being overwhelmed in a top like this is for the armscyes to fit perfectly, but many of the raglan sweaters I had made in the past had way too much fabric under the arms. I am petite, with narrow shoulders, but I do have a rack, so to fit my bust measurement in many patterns, I end up with raglan seams that are way too long. My fix was to speed up the raglan decreases by decreasing every row instead of every other row as soon as I began shaping the neckline. I'm really pleased with how it worked out; it's the first time I remember being satisfied with the length of a raglan seam on any top I've knit.

I ended up with a number of stitches on my needle that corresponded to nothing in the pattern; I had fewer stitches than even the smallest size. Luckily, a gathered neckline is extremely forgiving, so I just followed the instructions for the eyelets on the neckline and bound off. Even with these modifications, though, it slips off my shoulders a bit and requires frequent cinching of the ribbon.

I don't have much to say about the yarn: it's fine. It's drapey enough for the pattern, but seems to be holding the ribbing so far. I was hoping for more of a kelly green, and ended up with exactly a match to my grass. Such are the perils of buying yarn online.



In all, a satisfying knit and a cute, wearable summer top.