Get Your Summer Knitting Started with this Fun Top

I decided last fall that I actually have enough knit sweaters. Maybe even a few too many if we’re being honest with how rarely I wear some of them.

Of course I don’t want to stop knitting garments, so I’ve added more vests and socks to my rotation. I’ve started crocheting more (though only one sweater so far!) and throwing in other crafts instead of being all knitting all the time.

And of course there are summer tops. I don’t wear them as much as I should but they’re a great way to get some knit garments in my life without knitting a whole sweater.

If you’re new to knitting clothes, starting with a summer top is a great entry point, especially if there are no sleeves involved.

Gudrun Johnston’s Simmer Dim Top is definitely going on my list of makes for the warmer weather to come. It’s worked in lace weight yarn, making it super light and comfortable for warm weather. It’s sleeveless and seamless, worked from the bottom up with a-line shaping, in the round to the armholes.

The textured stitch on front and back is worked flat one piece at a time, and finished with an I-cord edging that becomes the straps. The armholes are finished by picking up stitches and then binding them off.

Darts are used to shape the a-line of the body, and faux side seams are used on the body. It’s identical front to back.

The pattern comes in 10 sizes, with chest measurements ranging from 31 to 60 inches, or 79 to 152.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 0 to 2 inches/5 cm of positive ease. In the photos it looks a little shorter than my preference (since I have a long torso) but working from the bottom up makes it easy to adjust because you can just knit as long as you like to the armholes.

You can find this pattern (and a bunch of pretty versions other people have made) on Ravelry.

[Photo: Gundrun Johnston]

A few years ago I wrote a post that was full of patterns for knit mushrooms, but I don’t think I ever did a post that was knitting patterns with mushrooms on them, so today’s the day.

I love the Fungi Beanie from Jacki Bean, which calls for worsted weight yarn and uses duplicate stitch to add the mushrooms and other details. I think the colors she used for the design are tonal/multicolor so it doesn’t use as many colors as it looks like, but you can use whatever red, green, brown and white yarn you have in your stash for those details.

How about some mushroom socks? The Magic Toadstool sock form Stone Knits includes a ring of mushrooms around the leg, contrasting heel and toe and a little more colorwork at the toe for extra cuteness. As shown it uses four colors and comes in three sizes.

Or there’s the Fairy Ring Socks from Katie Green, which have mushrooms of two sizes on the legs, plus a bit of wavy grass. They have a contrasting cuff, heel and toe and some colorwork flecks in the body of the sock as well. This one is available in eight sizes to fit everyone from a baby to an XL adult.

This trippy cowl from Hunt Hand Knits looks like a lot of fun to knit. The Fungus Among Us Cowl is shown using four colors of DK weight yarn, though you can do it with as few as two if you’d rather.

Stitch some mushroom mittens with this cute pattern from Holly C Watson. This design uses three colors, and it’s shown with a self-striping yarn on the mushroom caps, which makes the colors change without you having to do any work. The pattern is charted but it’s a pretty easy repeat. The mittens are one size.

If you don’t feel like knitting mushrooms but still want to give your project a touch of the forest, the Toadstools Cardigan from Julie Taylor may be what you’re looking for. It’s stitched as a plain cardigan worked in DK weight yarn and sized for newborns up to 4 years old. The mushrooms are added with embroidery and the pattern includes the design, which you can trace onto water soluble stabilizer to stitch the mushrooms onto your sweater. Or anything else you want. You can find this pattern on Ravelry.

Have you read?