I can't say I love the look of those horizontal stripes on me, but my patternless cotton top is finished and it fits!
I'm not sure which is worse - the horribly pixilated photo above or the one below where I look like I'm trying to catch bugs in my mouth.
You also have to pardon the hair. It was basically 1,000 degrees and pretty close to 1,000 percent humidity and well, remember those Wham bangs I accidentally got last year? They are growing out. Very, very slowly.
Whatever. The sweater/top fits, it's wearable and it's very comfortable. Again, I'm not thrilled with what those stripes do to my girlish figure but it fits and I'm pretty amazed by that.
I didn't have a pattern but I remembered knitting rectangles and sewing them together to make vests back in the '80's when I was young and skinny. And a vest is really just a sleeveless top and I wanted to knit a sleeveless summer top and in my limited Ravelry search, I didn't find any patterns that struck my fancy. I decided to return to my '80's style of knitting.
I actually made a gauge swatch and did the math and cast on the required number of stitches. And I knit and I knit and I knit then I put those stitches on a holder and started over and knit and knit and knit then I joined the two peices together and knit in the round until it was almost long enough. I knit a few rows of garter to finish it off and to tie back in to the chest area and then I bound off.
Next I icorded the neck then decided I'd better try it on before I did the armholes. I sure am glad I did because those holes were way too big and my boobs were pretty much hanging out the arm holes. I simply mattress stitched a couple of inches up from the bottom of the arm hole then did the icord.
And presto-magic! I have a new cotton top for less than $12.00!
The yarn I used is Yarn Bee's Sugarwheel Cotton which I'd bought on sale at Hobby Lobby. I bought four skeins but I barely made a dent in the third. I see a LOT of blue and green dish/face cloths in my future!
Now, the big question. How will a less than $12.00 hand knit cotton top hold up in the wash? We will see soon. Today is laundry day.
Wowza! It looks amazing as do you. It should look better and better with every wash. I know my dishcloths do.
ReplyDeleteThank you! I couldn't possibly get any softer. :)
DeleteNICE!!! Your sleeveless top turned out so cute and I love the colors in it. I can't believe you just knit two rectangles and then put them together!!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I love the colors too. And yes, the design is incredibly simple!
DeleteI think it's adorable on you!
ReplyDelete1. I love it - the colors are perfection! 2. I am jealous that you figured out how to do it so well - I'm lousy at that kind of stuff. 3. Wear it in good health, I think it looks fab on you.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Bridget. I love the colors too. I just need to learn to hold my stomach in. :)
DeleteOoooh! I love it and I think it looks great on you. Love your hair and your smile too.
ReplyDeleteNow the BIG question. Do you think you could recreated the directions of how you did it for the rest of us?
Blessings and hugs,
Betsy
Thanks! The "directions" are really too simple to recreate but I'll try to explain exactly what I did a little better in a future post.
DeleteWhich pattern Jeannie? Very cute!
ReplyDeleteVery cute! Congrats.
ReplyDeleteLove those colors. Even if the air is not cool, the cotton top in blues should make you THINK you are cool.
It looks great and I love the colours. Isn't it a relief when you come to the end of a garment and find it fits perfectly.
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome! And that beautiful smile, and bug catching mouth, are gorgeous!!
ReplyDelete