A Weightless Sweater to Knit for Summer

I know it can be hard to think of sweaters as being a summer knitting project, whether just knitting them or actually wearing them. But it is possible to make a sweater that’s perfect for wearing when the weather is hot.

The Islet Raglan by Leila Raven does it by being worked in light fingering weight yarn on a larger than expected needle and including a lace pattern. All of this combines to make for a very lightweight garment that’s great to slip on over tank tops or summer dresses.

The boat neck top is worked in the round from the top down and features raglan shaping on the sleeves. You can make the sleeves short, three-quarter or full length as you like.

The pattern is meant to be worked with two different kinds of yarn, a smoother yarn contrasted with a fuzzier one. The fuzzy yarn is used to work solid stripes, while the smoother yarn is used to make the lace pattern. You can also use different colors for the different kinds of yarn or use the same color for more subtle contrast.

This is a time when swatching can give you a lot of good information because you can play with different yarns, colors and textures to see what combination you like best for your sweater.

There are 10 sizes available, with an actual chest measurement ranging from 33 to 73 inches, or 84 to 185.5 cm. It’s intended to be worn with 3 to 6 inches/7.5 to 15 cm of positive ease.

This pattern can be purchased individually or there is an option to buy both this one and the Islet Drop, which is sort of the opposite pattern, worked from the bottom up with a dropped sleeve for a more relaxed look and fit.

You can learn more about both patterns on Ravelry.

[Photo: Leila Raven]

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One of the fun things about knitters is that we will use a holiday theme on any kind of project. From Easter bunny socks to Christmas sweaters, there’s no combination of holiday motif and knitwear genre we won’t combine.

Case in point: Halloween cowls.

This fun cowl from Sweet Vireo Designs features large carved pumpkins and little cats and skulls. It uses two colors of DK weight yarn and I love the multicolored yarn for the background color on this one. And the braids! So cute.

Spooky Season by Jocelyn Tunney (also on Ravelry) uses fingering weight yarn in two colors to make a design with crescent moons and eyes. There are two circumferences and two heights available so you can make it a neck hugger or a slightly bigger project if you like.

Make more moons with the Broom Riding Cowl from Vanessa Ewing Knits. This two color pattern looks extra fun with a multicolored yarn for the colorwork, but you can use a solid as well. It calls for DK weight yarn but there is also a fingering weight version if you have some yarn in your stash you want to use.

Jinx Made has another fun Halloween cowl, this time covered in skulls. South Philly Skulls uses DK weight yarn and comes in two lengths, and there’s also a matching hat pattern, both of which can be found on Ravelry.

The Ghost Stories cowl from Melissa Knit Wear is a two-color cowl with ghosts of different sizes on the body. It uses DK weight yarn, and average sized skeins will allow you to get two cowls out of two skeins. It also calls for stitch markers to help you keep your place in the chart.

Or stitch up a cowl with a giant bat on it. The Nightling Cowl from Jen Immer uses DK weight yarn in two colors and has moons and a large bat on it. This pattern can be found on Ravelry.

How about spooky trees? The Weirwood Cowl from Andrea Krüß-Anders is inspired by the weirwood trees in the Game of Thrones books, and is worked in two colors of fingering weight yarn. You can find this free pattern on Ravelry.

If a bandana cowl is more your thing, try Cowloween from Tellybean Knits (on Ravelry). This colorful design is worked from the top down and features pumpkins, ghosts and candy colored stripes, and is worked in a light fingering weight yarn. There are kid and adult sizes available.

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