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Add a Gorgeous Little Knit Cover to Your Summer Outfits

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Sometimes it’s hard to keep wearing your knits in spring and summer if you’re the type who has a warm nature. You can knit tees and tank tops, and even summer dresses, but it can also be nice to have a little knit cover to throw on in the evening when it’s a little cool or when you step into somewhere that’s cooler than outside.

The Stratum pullover/poncho by Yumiko Alexander is a great example of this type of garment. It’s just two big rectangles sewn together at the shoulders, with a little bit of sewing to make a “sleeve” on each side.

It’s worked with two fine weight yarns held together to make a DK weight (or you could start with a DK weight if you happen to have some handy). This makes it super light so it shouldn’t make you feel hot to wear it.

There are lace panels across the top of each piece, with a faux seam down the center to break up the eyelets. There’s also lace running down the sides, forming the edge of the sleeve and the sides of the garment. It’s rated for intermediate knitters because of the lace, but if you’ve worked lace before you should be fine with this project.

The piece is one size in width (43 inches), with three options for the length: 16, 20 and 24 inches, so you can decide if you want it cropped, long or somewhere in between. There are instructions for how to make the panels narrower or wider if you need to as well.

This would be a great little garment to wear over summer dresses or even to your fancy summer events when you want to wear something special that you made.

The pattern is available in English and Japanese, and you can get a copy on Ravelry.

[Photo: Yumiko Alexander.]

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Comments

  1. Lovely – how can I get the pattern for this so I can make it – thank u

Have you read?

Knit a Sweet Striped Vest for Kids

I’m trying to include more knits for kids in my posts because I know a lot of people do a lot of their knitting for the little ones in their lives. 

This child’s striped vest from Lion Brand Yarn is not only cute and great for kids who might find a full sweater too hot, it’s also an easy project if you’ve never knit a garment before. 

Lion Brand rates it as level 2 easy/beginner +, probably just because there’s a little shaping and seaming invovled, but it’s nothing you can’t handle. 

The pattern comes in three sizes that are meant to be for ages 6, 8 and 10. The finished chest measurement is 30, 31.5 or 33 inches, which is 76, 80 and 84 cm respectively. This makes the vest a little roomy and makes it easy to slip on over a T-shirt or other top. 

It’s worked in two pieces from the bottom up, with the neckband and armhole bands worked in the round after the body pieces are sewn together. One benefit of knitting stripes on a project like this is that it’s easier to make sure your pieces are the same length because you can just count the stripes (it’s also a little easier to seam because you’re always lining up the stripes). 

If you’re knitting the smallest size, you only need one skein each of the two colors you choose, and for the larger sizes you will only need two, making this project a pretty good value. The suggested yarn is Color Theory, a worsted weight acrylic yarn that comes in 18 relatively muted colors. Of course you can use any worsted weight yarn you like. Keep it acrylic for easy washing or use wool to make this a warmer garment for kids who live in cooler climates. 

You can grab the pattern for free from the Lion Brand website, or get a kit that includes the yarn you need (and needles if you don’t have them already). I think this would be a great basic to knit a kid for back to school in their school colors, or make it holiday with red and green, or whatever colors the child likes. 

[Photo: Lion Brand Yarn]