Pretty Ribbed Tops to Knit

Every year there are more great summer tops to knit, and this year a bunch of them that caught my eye used ribbing as a pattern element, not just an edging. Let’s take a look at some fun ribbed tops to knit for summer.

The Bloodroot Tee by Andrea Gaughan reminds me of tops from the 1970s, with a close fit (the pattern calls for 2 inches/5 cm of negative ease) and allover ribbing. The retro colors used in the samples definitely help with that feeling, too. The pattern uses fingering weight yarn and there are two fit profiles, based on classic women’s and men’s sizing, respectively. Each has 10 size options and is meant to fit a bust/chest measurement from 30 to 66 inches, or 76.2 to 167.6 cm. You can find the pattern on Ravelry.

The September Shirt by iluvtoknit (also on Ravelry) is a top down raglan worked in 2×2 ribbing with cap sleeves. It’s meant to be a project you can work in any yarn to any gauge, and includes a spreadsheet to help you determine your stitch counts based on your gauge and measurements.

Another great ribbed top knitting pattern is the Josephine Top from Lily Kate Makes on Etsy. This allover ribbed pattern also includes cap sleeves and has a boatneck neckline. It calls for DK weight yarn and comes in nine sizes. The pattern is meant to be worn with “a significant amount of negative ease” but the sizes are meant to fit an actual bust measurement of 28-30 inches (71-76 cm) to 60 to 62 inches (152-157 cm).

Or try taking ribbing in a different direction (with a bit of stockinette stitch on this one, too, but I’ll allow it because it looks cool) with the Geometry Tee from Minimi Knit Design. The cute cropped top calls for DK weight yarn and comes in 10 sizes, ranging from an actual bust measurement of 30 to 66 inches, or 76 to 167.5 cm. It’s meant to be worn with 7-9 inches/18-23 cm of positive ease.

For the past few years I’ve taken part in a Christmas in July blog hop that encourages people to get a jump on their making for holiday gifts.

I love to use yarn I already have for these projects in the hope that people will consider what they already have that they can use to make projects for themselves or to give as gifts.

This year it was a couple of knit baskets made using partial balls of yarn left in my stash from other projects.

They use the same basic pattern but the first one is made with two colors of bulky yarn, and the second used two strands of worsted weight yarn held together, which made the gauge about the same, but I cast on fewer stitches to make a smaller version.

The bottom of the basket is square, though you can make them rectangular if you’d rather. Then I just knit up the sides in rounds until I was about to run out of yarn. This gave both baskets rather short sides — maybe more like a tray than a basket — but you can keep knitting as long as you like to make the sides of your basket as tall as you want.

They’re worked in seed stitch, which keeps the edges from curling and adds a nice texture to the baskets.

Of course this also allows you to use even more odd balls from your stash. I’d love to make a big one someday combining lots of different yarn. I mean, I’d probably use it to store more yarn, but that’s a fine thing to do.

As it is, these little trays are great for sitting on your desk or bedside table to hold little things that always seem to appear there. I like to use one to hold the supplies for whatever project I’m working on, things like little scissors, my tape measure, a crochet hook, etc.

And they would make good gifts on their own or as a container to hold some other goodies if you like.

You can find the free pattern for these stash busting baskets over at Our Daily Craft.

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