Knit Summer Tops with a Bit of Lace

This time of year I annually try to convince everyone that you can still knit and wear knit garments in the summer. One way to do that is knitting short sleeved or sleeveless shirts. But you can make it even cooler (and a little less plain) by adding a bit of lace.

Lace literally makes your projects lighter, but it also provides a bit of ventilation that makes your clothes more comfortable to wear. So let’s check out some knit tops with lace for summer knitting.

Live your cottagecore dreams with the Nostalgia Tee from Auguste Knit. This DK weight top is vintage inspired and includes an allover lace pattern on the front and sleeves and most of the back. It’s worked in one piece from the bottom up and is available in five sizes. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

A more subtle design but with a fun wavy lace pattern is the Cloudbreak Tee from Wool & Pine. This pretty top uses DK weight yarn and has classic t-shirt styling with a lacy twist. It comes in 11 sizes up to a 72 inch/183 cm bust. It has a seamless set in sleeve design that’s a lot of fun and produces a great fit. It can be worked with long or short sleeves and the lace pattern is both written and charted. Learn more on Ravelry.

If you want the lace to be more of an accent than a major design element, check out Ophelia by Star Crossed Knits. This pretty design can be a tank top, short sleeved or long sleeved project, and it features a bit of lace around the neckline, sleeves/armholes and hem. It’s worked from the top down in fingering weight yarn and comes in nine sizes.

Add a little simple lace to the top of your knit shirt to make it lighter with this pattern from Little Theorem. This project is worked seamlessly from the top down and has a slightly drapey neckline and little cap sleeves. It’s available in nine sizes and uses lace weight yarn.

Another option with a bit of lace on the top is Lokta by Joan Forgione, available on Ravelry. The yoke portions are worked back and forth in rows, then joined to work the stockinette stitch section in the round. The pattern calls for a fingering weight yarn plus mohair (or use a light DK), and the lace is both written and charted. The design has eight sizes available.

If your family is the sort to do a turkey trot for Thanksgiving, or even just to take family pictures, you’ll want to get started knitting up some Turkey Sack Hats with this pattern from Underground Crafter.

The pattern uses super bulky yarn and is rated easy. It’s knit flat but there are a few skills in here around the shaping of the eyes, which includes changing colors, working bobbles and doing a wicked purl 3 together decrease. Twice.

But that’s all in one row, and the rest of it is pretty simple. The beak is worked separately and sewn on, and the side of the hat is stitched up to make it into a hat.

What’s great about this one is that it comes in 10 sizes, ranging from newborn to adult large, so you really can make one for everyone in the family. And because it uses super bulky yarn you can knit a bunch pretty quickly if that’s a thing you’d like to do.

It’s also fun because you could use this base pattern to make different animals or for different holidays. Make it all in orange and stitch on a jack o’lantern face for Halloween, or make a white one that’s a snowman, for example.

In any style this would also be a fun gag gift for that person in your life who has everything or doesn’t want gifts, or if you do a secret Santa or white elephant gift exchange at work or elsewhere.

And make sure whether you’re making it a turkey or some other character that you include the pom poms at the top! They’re just so cure and a great way to add a bit more color to the project, and they’re easy to make. (See also: ways to make a pompom with yarn.)

You can grab the free pattern at the Underground Crafter website.

[Photo: Underground Crafter]

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