Summer Time, Summer Wear

One of the wonderful things about having knit for as many years as I have, is that I knit much faster now that I once did.  There was a time that summer sweaters had to be started mid-winter in order to be worn 'this' summer.  No longer.  I can be wearing a sweater a few weeks after inspiration strikes.

The inspiration that struck recently was in the form of this  crocheted summer cover up.  Just me   isn't it?   I used to crochet and figured I could resurrect those skills in order to have this bolero on my back before summer.  It took only one evening of struggling to master the stitches involved - I am calling them  'second generation' crochet stitches  - such as Foundation Single Crochet Chain and Extended Double Crochet to make me remember why I took up knitting.  A crocheted garment is heavier and stiffer than it's knitted counterpart.  One of the stitches involved in increasing at the Bolero's  raglan lines involved 8 double crochets.  That's a lot of yarn and a lot of weight.  A heavier, warmer sweater than what I wanted.

Cute as it was  is, the Lacey Crocheted Bolero just wasn't going to be as great for me, in real life,  as the picture suggested.  Instead, I reverted to what  I know best.  Knitting.  A top-down, quick-to-knit, summer sweater.  In this case with short sleeves and lots of holes for air conditioning.

I started with a few rows of seed stitch for a non-curling trim.  Followed by  one row of YO, k2tog for a row of holes just below the trim that echoes the yarn-over, raglan increases. 

As well, running down the front, beside the  seed stitch bands, there is a yarn over for a vertical row of holes.

Down the centre back, there are more holes. 

A patch of K1, YO, K2tog lace, worked over 15 stitches  adds some holey interest there.  (Taking this picture, I see  an oops.   A result, probably, of knitting on the drive home after a long day  of  Fathers' Day family-ness at a Blue Jays game.)

Even with this and other  rip-backs that might crop up, I think I will be able to wear this by early July.  Definitely summer wear.