Tuesday 1 September 2020

Silver Blossom Tee

2020, The First Year of Coronavirus, contains distinct seasons for me, so far The Eternal Spring of Isolation, and the Summer of Sweaters. This is the summer I finished not one, not two, but three sweaters (and I have a fourth on the needles - can I do it by the end of September? September is "summer" in the UK which is obviously wrong, but it's what I have to work with). The second of my jumpers is Silver Blossom by Amy Gunderson knit in KnitPicks CotLin Dk a 70/30 cotton/linen blend in the colour "Harbour". Silver Blossom is knit top-down with a deep lace yoke and a-line shaping. I knit the largest size, 53" bust, which is larger than my full bust, without doing a gauge swatch but I really should have because I got 16sts/4" which is miles away from the 22sts/4" that the pattern is written for. Instead of being slightly larger than my measurements, my top is mahoosive. This is not something I'm upset about? If I knew how far off I was gauge I probably would have gone down a size or two? Or more likely knit a completely different top, one closer to the gauge I was getting.

Again, I'm not upset to have a tee with lots of positive ease. It is the current fashion for oversized knitwear and having lots of room means that on hot - and we do get a few, you'd be surprised how hot 20C feels in Northern Scotland - humid days there is lots of cooling air swirling around me.

Would I knit it again? Yes, in a smaller size. I like the lace yoke, the instructions are clear, I like the idea of knitting summer tees. Would I use the yarn again? Maybe? I don't love it, but it's mostly cotton and cotton is not a lot of fun to knit with. OTOH, it comes in better colours than most "summer yarns" and, while it's not the first thing I look for when deciding to buy a yarn, if there's not a colour I like I won't buy it.

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