Coordinating Yarn Top by Sally Melville

Coordinating Yarn Top

Knitting
August 2014
Aran (8 wpi) ?
18 stitches and 26 rows = 4 inches
in stockinette
US 7 - 4.5 mm
US 5 - 3.75 mm
US 3 - 3.25 mm
1000 - 1500 yards (914 - 1372 m)
S (M, L, 1X, 2X)
English
This pattern is available for $7.50 USD buy it now

My mission lately has been to make sweaters I can wear when the weather is warmer. So for this attempt, I knew I wanted (besides a cool main yarn) shorter sleeves in a light-weight yarn plus a sweater that was easy and quick. At some point in this exploration, I made the discovery that the number of stitches per inch in a sock yarn could be the same as the number of rows per inch in a worsted-weight yarn. Voila!

This one-to-one relationship meant the following:
• I could make a top in worsted weight yarn,
• I could shape sleeves with the simple and easy modified drop shoulder (sometimes called the square shoulder),
• the sleeves would then be really easy to pick up and knit down, from the armhole opening and in the sock weight yarn.

So then the fun was coordinating the worsted-weight yarn with the sock-weight yarn. I must admit that I loved that part of the exercise and hope you do too! It means you have to make decisions, but it also means you get to play in more than one area of the shop (or your stash).

Other features of the top are its side shaping (slight A-line, which is best shown in the beige version) and some shallow but attractive hem shaping (reverse shirt-tail on front, classic shirt-tail on back). All of the above I have found fun to knit and flattering to wear.

This sizes are S (M, L, 1X, 2X).
The yardage requirements are the following:
For main color (MC)
575 (640, 705, 770, 830) yd (518 575, 635, 695, 745m) worsted weight yarn (CYCA 4)
For sleeves (CC)
450 (500, 550, 600, 650) yds (405 450, 495, 540, 585 m) sock weight yarn (CYCA 1)