A Great Striped Sweater for Summer

It might be about the time of year in the northern part of the world where we need to start thinking about transitional pieces (in the south, too, though they are transitioning the other way).

Boxy sweaters in wool blend yarns are great transition pieces because they are easy to use for layering on top of T-shirts or summer dresses and they look great on everyone.

The Super Simple Summer Sweater by Joji Locatelli is a great summer sweater that will suit you well into the next season and beyond. The original is worked in a cotton and wool blend, but all cotton or all wool would be great, too, depending on how you like your sweaters.

It has a large circular yoke and stripes and is worked from the top down in a relaxed shape that’s easy to knit and to wear. There’s also a knitalong going on right now if you’re into that sort of thing.

Grab the pattern on Ravelry for $6.50.

[Photo: Joji Locatelli.]

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Linen stitch is one of my favorite knitting stitch patterns that, every time I use it in a project, I think about how I don’t use it often enough.

It’s an easy stitch to make, with slip stitches done with the yarn held to the front of the work on the right/front side and to the back on the wrong/back side, which makes the strand of yarn a visible part of the pattern.

It also makes a fabric that is thick and looks kind of like a woven fabric.

I recently used linen stitch to make a double-thick pot holder, which I worked in a kind of interesting way. I didn’t want to have to do any sewing on the project, so I started it from a crochet cast on and picked up stitches from the side of the cast on to make the hot pad all in one piece in the round with the edge sealed.

This requires working on two circular needles, which is another technique I don’t use that often and am always reminded how much I like it when I do.

The combination of double thickness and the stitch pattern makes for a hot pad that’s already pretty thick, but I also added a bit of old towel to the inside before I closed up the end to make it super thick and extra protective for your surfaces.

I found the engineering challenge of this construction method to be a lot of fun, but you could also just knit it as a tube (casting on twice as many stitches as I did) and sew up the ends by hand when the knitting is done. Either way you’ve got a useful and pretty addition to your kitchen, whether you work it in a solid color, stripes or as a stash busting project will all your cotton odd balls.

You can grab the pattern over at Our Daily Craft, or check it out on Ravelry.

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