Some Free-style Summer Knitting

If you live in the midwest part of the country, you are well aware of our unusually sloooooow start to summer.  By this time in June we are normally trying to figure out if our air conditioners will 'go to eleven.'  I finally put sandals on today just because I refuse to wash socks again until sometime in mid October. (I really would like to have them on :/ )  Given the situation, my internal, seasonal clock is quite confused...and that means my sewing rhythm is discombobulated as well.  I can't decide if I want to be making lovely light linen-y things, or cozy wooly stuff.  So mostly I don't make anything!!! 

What I have done is finish up some of my knitting projects.  I like to knit when I travel, but at a certain point the projects either get too big or too fussy to do in the car or crammed into an airplane seat.  At that point I usually pile them up and forget about them for, well, too long.  I had two projects that I thought, if it ever decides to be summer, I would like to have them finished so I can wear them. 

The first one is a really pretty linen/cotton blend with gorgeous colors. (IMHO, you know, mud colors!)  I started out thinking I would do my normal knit two squares and make a tankish top.  But when I got to the end of the first ball of yarn I realized that the variegation would get really funky if I just stared another ball of yarn.  Hmmmmm???  The square was too short even for a cropped top so I had to think of another plan.  I ended up working the second square so that it continued up over the shoulders with a 'v' opening in the center.  What happens is I get a V-neck sweater one way and a square neck sweater if I turn it around.  I like both.

I added a garter stitched panel at the hem to get a bit more length and garter stitched sleeves.  You can see in the first picture below that I used a triple needle bind off to connect the "shoulders" which are either dropped to the front or the back depending on which way round I wear it! 

          

The second sweater was knit with a two stranded yarn, one strand of matte grey cotton and the other of a shiny grey rayon.  The affect was a bit of a tweedy pattern.  The yarn was a bit heavier so I wanted to make more of an open airy stitch.  I liked the openness of the fabric that I got knitting on size 10 needles.  Again, the plan was to make my two squares and hook them together, but the size 10 needles meant that the bottom of the sweater would be very loose and stretchy and probably catch on every corner and knob I walked past.  It also ended up giving about 18" of ease at the waist!  Not ideal!  Hmmmmm??  What I needed was a way to have a tighter knit at the hem/waist and a more open knit at the top/shoulders.  Here's what I did...

          

I started on size 6 interchangeable knitting needles.  I knit for a few inches and changed one of the needles to a size 8.  I knit a few more inches on a 6/8 combination.  I then went to both 8's, then 8/10 and finally completed the square with 10's on both ends of my cable.  (it's hard to see but in the picture one needle is a 6 and the other is a 10.  Not a combination I used, but easier to see the difference, kind of!)  The result was a 'trapezoid' that started out about 20" wide at the hem and ended up to be about 28" at the shoulders!  Bingo!  Just what I wanted, and I didn't add a stitch!

          

The hem snugs in a bit at hip level and the top is open and airy.  I did the same sequence of needle swaps on the sleeves.  I picked up along the shoulder with size 10's, did one pass with 10/10, and one each of 8/10, 8/8, 8/6 and finished and bound off with 6/6.   Again, the top of the sleeve is airy and the hem snugs in around my arm.  I have no idea if this is something that is actually 'done' by people who really know how to knit, but it worked out well for what I was trying to do.  

I was getting on so well with my knitting that I pulled out another UFO that got it's start on the beach this January in Key West.  I might just have it ready for NEXT January!

P.S.  I think I'm getting a little better at the selfie thing!👍