The first sweater that I truly designed was the Beach to Club cover-up. I don't remember exactly what I made with the cotton-modal yarn, but the drape and shine were delightful. So I found a nice colored neutral that I liked and began!
This rich violet shade won. I knew it would compliment my skin tone and wouldn't clash with many of my other clothes. Its also different enough from the color of blue jeans that I could get away with wearing the sweater with jeans. (I hate wearing blue with blue jeans, don't know why, but I really do).
I love the idea of knitting a sweater to exactly the size I want, not picking between a 32 and 36 inch bust measurement. While most patterns do have enough variety in the sizing to fit most individuals, what if you want something just right and not close enough. So I thought about how I could craft a sweater with just a tape measure.
This brought about a few challenges. In most knitting patterns, one casts on the desired number of stitches for the girth of a garment. Now I knew this wouldn't work for the concept I had in mind because you have to knit a bit before you know what your gauge will measure out to be (remember gauge is the number of stitches that make up an inch of fabric). I wanted to just get started!
So I began with a slightly wider I-cord (traditionally worked with 3 stitches, I think I used 4 or 5). I-cord for the appropriate length to fit comfortably around my ribcage. The first try was too small. I must have pulled it tight around myself, so on the next try I made sure to have more positive ease.
What I hadn't factored in on my first try was that when picking up the stitches from my I-cord base was the ratio needed to pick-up without any puckering. This ratio is either picking up 3 stitches for every 4 rows, or 2 stitches for every 3 rows (the variable being the weight of the yarn being used).
Honestly, once I had the correct length of I-cord the rest of the sweater was just straight stockinette stitch worked in the round (at least for the bodice, the bust was done flat). In effect, it was almost like when you were a kid in the coloring book and you outlined the area in your color, then shaded in the whole area. The I-cord was the outline that took a bit of concentration, then the rest of the sweater just followed along.
My vision of this sweater was that it would be light enough knit in sport weight to wear in the summer. I also like all of my sweaters long, but a long sweater in the summer just screams bathing suit cover-up to me. This cover-up has enough style to be worn on the beach or out to dinner in the evening. I even wear it to work!
I-cord detailing to add structure to the bust-line.
Some simple lace at the bottom to add a little spice.
This pattern is available for sale with guidance for small, medium, and large sizes.
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