The joys of knitting in summer
Even though summer garments really do require more stitches
I did a little experiment this week and the results are not the news I thought I’d be sharing!
All week, I happily thought about how this week’s newsletter would share how I bring cozy winter knitting magic into my summer living. I’d encourage you to, also, lean into seasonal fruit, candles with fresh lemon and warming clove scents, evenings full of golden light and what feels like extra knitting time. I had this idea that summer tank tops don’t require more knitting than a worsted weight sweater because, after all, summer tops don’t have sleeves! I anticipated throwing a bit of friendly shade on designers who create DK-weight summer tops because a top with 250+ stitches at a fine gauge isn’t going to sell well. (After all, where, other than San Francisco, can you wear a DK-weight summer top?)
I did a bit of analysis, with the help of an Excel spreadsheet, on exactly how many stitches are in a few things I like to knit. I was fully expecting the data to back up my idea that a summer top = a worsted weight sweater with sleeves. I did the math and, friends, it is not the same amount of knitting at all.
And I always thought it was!
You see, I don’t really count how much time it takes to make something. It’s the most common question I get from non-knitters, and the question where the answer truly doesn’t matter to me. If someone asks how long it takes me to make a pair of socks, I’ll usually say 40 hours, because that “sounds” about right. I’ll say a sweater takes me “about a month,” which is sort of true, but doesn’t reflect whether I have lots of knitting time or just a little bit in the evenings. But the truth is: I completely made up both answers.
Doing a more specific analysis—like calculating the number of stitches in something—is generally the kind of thing I love to do. So I eagerly set out, this week, to calculate how many stitches are in a few of the things I like to knit for myself.
Here’s what I learned:
There are roughly 16,000 stitches in a pair of socks at my size.
There are approximately 26,000 stitches in a worsted weight sweater at my size.
There are about 46,000 stitches in the tank top, above.
Knitting a summer top, at a gauge that makes a fabric I enjoy, really is more knitting. As in, a lot more knitting.
So here’s the shade I want to throw on myself: I sometimes choose a project because it’s quick. I may not think about how many stitches are in it, but I do anticipate the feeling of progress I’ll get from a project. I sometimes ask myself, is this going to be potato-chippy, with different sections that encourage me to knit a little bit more, every time I sit down to knit?
I love finishing a project—and this week I realized why I haven’t been knitting summer garments. What gets completed faster: a single sock with its 8,000 stitches, or a lightweight silk tank top at a fine gauge that seems to grow by only millimeters during each knitting session?
I want to push myself to think about my knitting a little bit differently. Maybe you do too?
Summer, to me, is about embracing the extra daylight and different household rhythms of this particular season. Just as I like to hibernate in the winter, I like to be outside in the summer, and I like to bring pieces of the outdoors inside, whether it’s flowers or bowls of fresh fruit. I like to really look at the the abundant green of my houseplants, as they, also, push and grow with the extra hours of light.
As I realize the truth of what summer knitting projects mean—more stitches, finer gauges, and more knitting—I want to redefine for myself what a summer knitting project can be. I want to grow beyond just anticipating a quick finish and stretch myself to hold fast to what I now realize really is a project with a longer time requirement.
Last week, I asked if you’d be interested to explore summer-weight fibers with me, and the vast majority of you are on board, either with curiosity or wanting a shop update with some plant and animal fiber blends. So the first thing I want to relax into, before we ever talk about swatches and gauges and fiber content, is the idea of taking summer time.
Let’s take summer time into our knitting. Let’s go slow and lazy. Let’s sink into the feeling of summer by knitting for a little longer, or taking our knitting outside. Let’s enjoy the tiny-ness of summer stitches, and know that working on a fine-gauge summer project is perfect for summer because the extra long days give us extra light to see those tiny stitches and to know that small things are, actually, the core of life. That summer colors, and summer fabrics, and summer weight knitted items can sustain us and make us cozy just as much as warm woolens do in the winter.
Can you see yourself investing the time for a knitted summer garment this year?
Let’s talk summer fibers & summer-weight gauge
I’ve been swatching summer fibers, exploring what kind of fabrics they can make. I am currently knitting the Oolong Tank with a new-to-me blend of 75% cotton and 25% wool, above. I generally like really round and bouncy yarns, and so when this 75% cotton and 25% wool blend (where the wool is merino-rambouillet, an extra energized mix) became available from my favorite fiber mill, I was eager to try it.
It’s a light fingering weight with these slightly slubby cottony puffs to it, and it is enchanting.
The slubby cotton bits make a lovely, almost textured, feeling in stockinette stitch, as you can see in the pale green swatches and tank-in-progress. The wool is merino-rambouillet, which is both soft and crimpy wool, so there’s just this hint of sproing to the finished yarn. Not too much—it is mostly cotton after all—but enough for this wool-lover.
A friend knit a summer-weight top out of this same base (in garter stitch) and while she was knitting it, I was a bit skeptical, thinking, well that’s an odd looking project. But when she finished, sewed it up, and blocked it? It’s light as a feather, effortlessly chic, and the garter stitch that looked wobbly in its unblocked form, smoothed and stretched into a gorgeous fabric. (The pattern is Ret Nem, Danish for “pretty easy,” if you’re curious.) I tried on her sweater (because how lucky that we are the similar-enough size?!) and swoon. It’s now in my queue.
I am slowly building out a summer palette of yarn colors for us, and they should be ready for a Sunday shop update in a few weeks.
And for this week’s shop update:
Anne of Green Gables-inspired colorways
I have been squirreling away extras from my Kindred Spirits club so that I could host a shop update with a fairly substantial amount of Anne of Green Gables-inspired yarn. Many of you have asked about getting your hands on previous club colorways, and I’m so happy to let you know that now is the time!
Everything in this week’s shop update is dyed on my Cashmere Blend base, which is a plush, drapey, incredibly delightful 70% extrafine SW merino wool, 20% cashmere, and 10% nylon. It has 420 yards in a 115g (4 ounce) skein.
I use it for plush and luxurious socks. It makes beautiful shawls (I usually use with a US size 6 needle | 4.0mm), and it makes warm, lightweight sweaters (not summer-weight, but fall sweaters that are fine-gauge and warm), and you can pair it with a strand of mohair yarn to make the perfect fluffy sweater (I have made 3 Love Notes from this combo!).
Here are some of the colorways in the shop right now:
I am also including undyed mohair/silk lace in the shop update in case you want to soften any of the lighter colors and make a Love Note or similar sweater. (I wouldn’t hold undyed mohair/silk with a dark color like Orchard Slope, but I have held it undyed with a colorway like Hester Gray’s Garden, and here is the resulting fabric:)
Like sunshine on your face
This week, I wish for you (and me) a moment or two of perfect summer.
No matter where you are, or how difficult (or easy) life is for you, right now, I hope you are able to find a moment or two of perfect summer. Sunshine on your face that feels nourishing. Stitches on your needles or crochet hook that feel soothing, and a deep breath to connect with the parts of life that are beautiful, old, and slow.