Knit a Simple Tank Top for Summer

Over the weekend I finished knitting the body (though I still have some edging and seaming to do) of a super simple tank top I got in a kit from We Are Knitters, which I will actually tell you all abut next week, but I am certainly feeling a summer top jag coming on. All I want to do is knit little tees for the girl and me, or a loose-gauge boxy sweater to wear on cool nights, or little raglan shrugs.

If you’d like to get some simple summer knitting done, too, check out this pattern idea for an easy knit tank from Mama in a Stitch.

It’s worked in Garter and Stockinette in flat pieces. The back is a square, and all you need to know for the shaping on the front is how to bind off and knit two together. And it looks really cute for a first garment project.

Hers is a small/medium size, but because these pieces are worked flat, if you know your gauge with the yarn you want to use you can easily calculate how many stitches you need to cast on.

It’s also a pattern you could easily jazz up by working stripes or throwing in a different pattern stitch if you wanted, but it’s totally cute as it is, too.

Are you doing any summer knitting? I’d love to hear about it!

[Photo via Mama in a Stitch.]

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.

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