How to Knit a Rectangle

 Thank you guys so much!  

First of all, I've been remiss in telling you how much I appreciate the warm welcome back and specially the love and support that came my way while I was having my 'dark time.'  Many of you got in touch to make sure I was okay and I very much appreciated it.  I'm also touched by how many of you immediately welcomed me back into your homes when I began blogging again. It means the world to me.  

I also appreciated all the positive comments on my summer cotton top.  You know, the one made out of rectangles.

Many of you asked me for pattern/design details so, here you go:

But hopefully I can describe what I did a little more clearly in hopes that you don't have quite so many scratched out numbers.

1.  Gather your yarn, needles and knit a gauge swatch.  If you can create an accurate gauge swatch, it would be tremendously helpful.  If you can't/don't, you may find yourself doing steps 2 through 5 a second time.  Maybe even a third.

2. Decide how big your sweater needs to be and calculate how many stitches you'll need.  If your gauge swatch says you get 4 stitches to the inch and you want a 40 inch sweater, you'll need 160 stitches over all for example.  (4 x 40 = 160)  If you are of average proportions, you'll need to divide that number in half to get your front and back numbers.  (160/2 = 80)  If you happen to be busty or perhaps your belly  pooches out more than your back flab...  You may want to adjust your numbers slightly.  For example, in my case, I cast on 95 stitches for the back and 100 for the front.

3.  Determine how big to make the arm holes.  You could use a tape measure to measure from the top of your shoulder to your underarm, or you can take the easy way out and measure a favorite shirt from shoulder seam to underarm seam.   You can also take your measurements to determine how long you will want your top, or you can go the easy route there too and simply try it on occasionally as you knit.

4..  Now, you've got your yarn, needles and the number of stitches you'll need for the back half of the top so cast those stitches on.  Any cast-on method should work.  

5. Knitting flat (back and forth, not in the round) garter stitch until you reach that armhole measurement then put these stitches on a holder.

6.  Now, repeat steps 4 and 5 for the front but don't put the stitches onto a holder.  I counted my garter ridges to make sure the two pieces were the same length but again, if you are overly busty or hunched back... you might want to make small adjustments to the lengths.

7.  It's time to join the front and back together and knit in the round.  I put a marker at the first underarm join but it's not mandatory.  If for no other reason, I like to have the marker when I'm knitting stockinette in the round so that I know I'm making progress each time I come to it.

8.  Keep knitting around and around and around.  When you get that, "It's bound to be long enough by now!" feeling, simply pin the shoulder seams together and try it on.  Then go knit some more because you know it's not long enough yet.

9.  Once the top is an inch or two from being long enough, revert back to knitting garter stitch (knit a row, purl a row) to make up that extra inch or two and bind off.  Hate purling?  Do as I did and wrap and turn at the end of the round and knit back to the beginning.  Wrap and turn again, knit around to the marker, wrap and turn and....just keep going until it's long enough.

10. With the shoulder seams pinned, try the top on again.  This time, move the pins to mark where you want the shoulder seam to stop and the neck hole to begin.  I used clothes pins for this because it was easier than trying to pin and unpin safety pins.  Once marked, sew up those shoulder seams.

11.  If your cast-on stitches are nice and pretty, you can consider the top finished.  If not, knit an icord border around the neck and arm holes.

12.  Weave in those ends and now you really are finished!

And of course, please, make your top your own!  Add a cable running down the front - or all around for that matter!  Use a decorative stitch instead of plain garter and stockinette. Knit the entire front and back seperately and seam the sides instead of knitting the body in the round.  I used garter and stockinette because I wanted it to be 100% mindless and fast.  And hey - if you're feeling adventurous, instead of icording the armholes, pick up those stitches and knit some sleeves!  You could even add a collar if you wanted to.  

Just make it your own!  And of course, send me a photo when you're done.

It fits!

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.

Thunder Storms

I've been floating and am now so relaxed my entire body feels like wet spaghetti.  It's a wonderful feeling!  Even though I'm getting absolutely no exercise, being out in the sun makes me tired so I'm sleeping better at night.  Floating is a wonderful, wonderful thing.

Hayden's first time in a pool

Hayden even came to float with me.  Turns out, Hayden prefers swimming to floating.  It was her first time in a pool and she took to it like a duck in water.  She was even putting her face down in the water and she'd come up blowing bubbles and grinning.  Michael Phelps better watch out.  He's going to have some competition!

The drawback to floating is that I haven't been getting much knitting done.  Between being sun tired and being so relaxed, I'm going to bed sometimes as much as two hours earlier than normal.  It's pretty crazy!  

I have finished one arm on my Palette sweater and have knit a few rounds on the other sleeve.  I was knitting on the deck after dinner, but it's gotten way too hot and humid to hold that beast of a sweater in my lap.  It's definitely an indoor project now.

Sunburned and the start of a Reyna

Luckily a thunderstorm rolled through Sunday afternoon and interrupted my floating.  I'd been in the pool for about four hours and was getting a little crispy.  I love thunderstorms and enjoy sitting on the covered deck, watching them.  And if I'm sitting, I'm knitting... but that sweater is just too hot to work on outdoors so I started something new.

Lagoon from Organized Chaos Yarns

I started out knitting another Reyna but I'm not 100% positive that is what it will be when I'm finished.  This skein from Organized Chaos has a lot more yardage than the pattern calls for.  I may or may not modify it in some way.  We'll see.

I am over the moon in love with this colorway.  The photo does not begin to do it justice.  The colorway is called Lagoon and it is simply gorgeous!  It almost glows and really does look like deep, clear bluish green water.  My skein is much darker with deeper colors than the one pictured on Organized Chaos's website.  

This new Reyna is supposed to be my deck knitting only project but it's going to be very difficult to keep that promise to myself.  But, I'm also determined that the Palette sweater is not going to be removed from my knitting bag until it's finished.  And I love my knitting bag and there's no room for anything else in there right now so.... I'm vowing to plow ahead on that final sleeve.  When I'm not floating that is.

Three on Thursday - Summer Tops

It's Thursday so you know what that means.  

Three summer tops I'd like to knit. 

I don't know why I suddenly have such a strong desire to knit myself a summer top.  I spend about 94% of the summer in my work uniform and if I'm not at work, I'm either asleep or at Walmart.  It's also extremely hot and humid during the summers here in Virginia.  The idea of wearing anything heavier than a cotton t-shirt is just... unthinkable.  But despite all that, I have the urge to knit myself a summer top so of course I went Ravelry browsing.

Novel-T

This is Novel-T designed by Laura Nelkin.  I love this top's simple lines and the strip of lace running under the arms and across the shoulders.

Sleeveless Slipover

This one is Sleeveless Slipover from Churchmouse Yarns.  The design seems so basic and not all that interesting but....  The pattern is written so that you can knit any length from a cropped top to a full length dress.  I just love that!  I also love that you could wear it with or without the shirt underneath.  It may be a simple looking top, but this versatile design could be worn all year long.  It's also a design I could easily see myself wearing.

Davit

And Davit, designed by Amy Palmer.  Although the shaping wouldn't look great on me, this one is my favorite of the three.  I just love the simple front and that crossed back.  Absolutely love it!  It might not look all that great on me, but I bet it would be terrific on my daughter.

Now the hard part.  Decisions, decisions, decisions.

Join me over at Carol's to see others' Three on Thursday posts.