Summer knitting

If it ever gets here. While the moisture the drizzle has brought is welcome, it's a strange sight in Northern California in June.


pattern nickname: Nori (for a mermaid in Barbie Fairtopia Mermaidia, not the dried seaweed sushi wrap)
yarn: Tahki Palma & Caribbean (4 balls) & Fuchsia (1 ball)
size: somewhere in a girls 12-14 range
overall design by: Monkey1


My contribution was to add bias tape to the neckline because I purposely made it wider than the few patterns out there for conservative coverage reasons. Not sure how well the bias tape will keep the neckline from drooping over the course of a day of wearing. There's the distinct possibility that it would make the neckline too stiff and gape open. If it happens, there's going to be some ripping and re-knitting of the neckline.


Monkey1 wanted the tank top to be more close-fitting and less A-line. I wanted a little growing room, but also wanted to take cotton's droop/growth factor into account. I hope I balanced that right. I'm sure I broke a lot of cotton knitting rules however.


The spaghetti straps were Monkey1's idea which makes me nervous. I almost knit the i-cord around a piece of elastic or cord for stability, but I took a chance and decided not to. The cute decorative buttons placement were her idea since she decided against thicker straps with adjustable buttonholes.

While it was fun knitting without a pattern (not that there was one - or two if I also upsized - to deviate from), it was a little stressful for me. I didn't mind the frogging back some here and there to adjust the decreases to work for Monkey1 (cotton is so forgiving that way), but I can see how I wouldn't be cut out to be a fledging knitwear designer that needs to adjust the pattern for the whole depth & breathe of sizes per some industry standard.


Now that one of Monkey1's summer knit items is done, I'm working on Monkey2's Twirly Skirt in some Cotton Fleece I bought on sale when a lys owner closed her San Leandro location and re-opened in Alameda. I went up one size too many since I was going off finished pattern measurements noted in the INKnitter's version (now defunct) with no garment sizes noted and my inaccurate measurements of a squirmy Monkey2. I didn't double-check the Barefoot Knits site which also gave garment sizes along with the finished measurements, otherwise I would've gone for the correct size. With a little help from some elastic tape, at least she'll have lots of growing room. And worse comes to worse, the Twirly Skirt is also billed as a poncho.