The coast of Maine is rocky and breezy, and Small Point beach in my hometown is definitely a representation of that. If you’re going to be spending a lot of time on the beach, you want something casual, and layer-friendly. Warm, but not so stiff you can’t throw a frisbee or chase the tide.

Small Point is constructed in one piece, from front hem to back hem. This construction winds up producing a sweater with a feeling that’s somewhere between a drop-shoulder sweater and a dolman – the lines are that of a drop shoulder, with generous (but not ridiculous) armholes, but the movement and freedom inside the garment is great, like you’d experience with a dolman. The lack of seam in the shoulder area produces an incredibly comfortable, beautifully relaxed structure to the garment. It layers well, it wears well on its own, and looks utterly fantastic in a lightweight wool.

Add some kicky stripes in beautifully matched colors, and the sweater practically knits itself – it took me well under a week to work up this sample! And I’ve been wearing it since.

When choosing a size, please choose a size that’s at least 2 – 4” above your upper torso. I’m wearing this sweater with 3” of ease in the upper torso, and could have happily gone to the next size up as well. There’s waist shaping on the back of the sweater only to keep things from being too boxy – but fundamentally, you’ll be most comfortable in this construction style if you have plenty of room.

If you’re using the Eden Cottage Yarns that I used for the sweater, you’ll need 5 (5, 5, 5, 6, 6, 6, 7, 7, 7, 8, 8) hanks total, or 3 (3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4) hanks of each of two colors as shown.