Your Fluens tee design looks great! I love learning about different fibers. I'm interested to know how hot the weather can get where your tee would still feel comfortable? I see many designers from Europe who use wool in their summer garments but figured that's because they don't have super hot weather! In our part of Australia temperatures can reach 45 degrees Celsius in the height of summer.
I've knitted tees in 100% organic cotton fingering weight yarn, 50% bamboo & 50% cotton fingering weight yarn and 100% Milk cotton. The Bamboo/cotton tee has stretched a lot. I'm thinking of ripping back a section of the body stitches to reduce the length! The 100% organic cotton tee has kept it's shape after multiple hand washes, which I'm really pleased about.
The Milk cotton DK weight was a yarn I found in Thailand. I wore that tee in the humid hot weather and was surprised I felt quite comfortable. It's got slightly fuzzier with multiple hand washes but has retained its shape. :)
Jodie, I love your knitted tees and you chose such delightful designs. Thank you for sharing about your fiber choices and your observations. There is so much to explore with all these different types of fibers. As far as I know, for a comfortable summer knit, the fiber's properties, structure and ease of the garment, drape and probably a lot more comes into play. For example, your milk cotton tee felt comfortable because milk cotton is known for its high moisture wicking abilities. If you are handwashing and flat drying, knitted fabrics would mostly retain shape. If 100% organic cotton tee retained shape while bamboo+cotton did not - we may want to observe the stitches and structure of the fabric. Plant fibers don't do well with cables, bobbles that stack up fibers together and add weight to certain spots of the garment. It might cause them to stretch out due to the weight. These are just my best guesses, but hopefully they give you some better ideas and direction to explore.
Lol!! Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement. You have motivated me to be less lazy and really think about KALs as a part of the design process. 😅 For Fluens tee, I am waiting for my tech-edit to approve my grading, so I can get it tested. May be I am getting ahead of myself, but my idea is to knit another sample, in a yarn that is easily accessible for us here. Perhaps in a slightly different fit, so it can all become good teaching material. Fingers crossed for now! 😊
Another great read Kavitha and I love your new design. Here where I live it makes more sense to knit 3/4 length or even full length sleeved items using lighter yarns. I have tried various combination yarns and love a good silk/linen mix. 🥰
Thank you so much Heike! I understand the need for full sleeves. I love the look of a 3/4 sleeve. I am now exploring and realizing just how many choices and possibilities we have as knitters making our own clothing!! Noting down silk/linen for future experiments! 🥰
Aww, Misha. Thank you so much for the design appreciation and huge trust to be signing up early on. 🤗 Working on getting it ready for test knit and I can't wait to share it with you all too. This design has been in the works long enough. :)
What a great post. I have never really tried knitting summer tops - my default summer knits are socks (ready to go when the cold weather comes). But your post has really got me thinking summery thoughts, especially perhaps using a non wool yarn.
Thank you Louise! Yay for summery thoughts!! So many summer yarns and blends are now available that it's becoming hard to ignore and stick to just wool. I am excited to see your choices. I love how you put colors together.
Love the curve of the yoke of your Fluens Tee! Very nice accent! I may 'borrow' that at some time in
the future! 😉
As to summer weight blends, I look for very lightweight yarn/threads. I am used to knitting with the smaller needle sizes. One reason I am willing to knit with very lightweight yarn is that plant fibers tend to be heavier than wool. So, stitching in the lighter weights makes them more comfortable in the summer. And depending on the style they can also be worn indoors in the winter or with a cardigan. I have a cotton/linen blend cardigan that is too heavy for summer wear but makes a nice house sweater in the winter. Sometimes I have met the challenge working with cotton by slight alterations of the pattern. I may finish edges with crochet or create a garter stitch strip to attach horizontally at the hem as a mock ribbing. that allows for a little more stretch than a traditional rib hem. Another way to keep a cotton knit cool is to look for ways to add a bit of open work. Perhaps lace at the yoke and/or down the side seams with a zigzag hem! With at least 2 more months of very hot weather forecasted, I need to keep my knitting cool. 😎
Wow, thank you so much for sharing your observations and knowledge. So many helpful points. Yes, I have learnt that lightweight yarn knit at a fine gauge, with considerable ease makes for great summer garments. I am going for almost the same goal with my fluens tee design - "depending on the ease/fiber with which it is knit, it can serve as a layer or a top by itself". I have knit my sample with no ease for myself and the silk/merino content, hopefully will make it a good layer in the winter. It wears nicely by itself as a top too. I might still try and knit another one in different fiber and a larger size to get a more drapey summer top, let's see. Now the crochet edging and garter stitch strip sounds like brilliant ideas. Thank you. I have done folded hems here in this design, as I wanted to avoid traditional ribbing. Traditional ribbing seems almost meaningless with plant yarns. They just don't seem to care. :))
Your Fluens tee design looks great! I love learning about different fibers. I'm interested to know how hot the weather can get where your tee would still feel comfortable? I see many designers from Europe who use wool in their summer garments but figured that's because they don't have super hot weather! In our part of Australia temperatures can reach 45 degrees Celsius in the height of summer.
I've knitted tees in 100% organic cotton fingering weight yarn, 50% bamboo & 50% cotton fingering weight yarn and 100% Milk cotton. The Bamboo/cotton tee has stretched a lot. I'm thinking of ripping back a section of the body stitches to reduce the length! The 100% organic cotton tee has kept it's shape after multiple hand washes, which I'm really pleased about.
The Milk cotton DK weight was a yarn I found in Thailand. I wore that tee in the humid hot weather and was surprised I felt quite comfortable. It's got slightly fuzzier with multiple hand washes but has retained its shape. :)
Jodie, I love your knitted tees and you chose such delightful designs. Thank you for sharing about your fiber choices and your observations. There is so much to explore with all these different types of fibers. As far as I know, for a comfortable summer knit, the fiber's properties, structure and ease of the garment, drape and probably a lot more comes into play. For example, your milk cotton tee felt comfortable because milk cotton is known for its high moisture wicking abilities. If you are handwashing and flat drying, knitted fabrics would mostly retain shape. If 100% organic cotton tee retained shape while bamboo+cotton did not - we may want to observe the stitches and structure of the fabric. Plant fibers don't do well with cables, bobbles that stack up fibers together and add weight to certain spots of the garment. It might cause them to stretch out due to the weight. These are just my best guesses, but hopefully they give you some better ideas and direction to explore.
Excellent ideas to explore, thank you so much for taking the time to share them. :)
I just had to share your post with all the ideas and thoughtful comments with my readers in my Tuesday post!
Thank you so much Jodie. That is so kind and generous. 💖🤗
Can’t wait to do the Fluens tee! KAL KAL KAL please ❤️
Lol!! Thank you so much for all the support and encouragement. You have motivated me to be less lazy and really think about KALs as a part of the design process. 😅 For Fluens tee, I am waiting for my tech-edit to approve my grading, so I can get it tested. May be I am getting ahead of myself, but my idea is to knit another sample, in a yarn that is easily accessible for us here. Perhaps in a slightly different fit, so it can all become good teaching material. Fingers crossed for now! 😊
Sounds super fun! Can’t wait to see it!
Another great read Kavitha and I love your new design. Here where I live it makes more sense to knit 3/4 length or even full length sleeved items using lighter yarns. I have tried various combination yarns and love a good silk/linen mix. 🥰
Thank you so much Heike! I understand the need for full sleeves. I love the look of a 3/4 sleeve. I am now exploring and realizing just how many choices and possibilities we have as knitters making our own clothing!! Noting down silk/linen for future experiments! 🥰
This is just brilliant! You know you have to include me in your test knitting posy. Signing up even before the sign ups.
Aww, Misha. Thank you so much for the design appreciation and huge trust to be signing up early on. 🤗 Working on getting it ready for test knit and I can't wait to share it with you all too. This design has been in the works long enough. :)
What a great post. I have never really tried knitting summer tops - my default summer knits are socks (ready to go when the cold weather comes). But your post has really got me thinking summery thoughts, especially perhaps using a non wool yarn.
Thank you Louise! Yay for summery thoughts!! So many summer yarns and blends are now available that it's becoming hard to ignore and stick to just wool. I am excited to see your choices. I love how you put colors together.
Love the curve of the yoke of your Fluens Tee! Very nice accent! I may 'borrow' that at some time in
the future! 😉
As to summer weight blends, I look for very lightweight yarn/threads. I am used to knitting with the smaller needle sizes. One reason I am willing to knit with very lightweight yarn is that plant fibers tend to be heavier than wool. So, stitching in the lighter weights makes them more comfortable in the summer. And depending on the style they can also be worn indoors in the winter or with a cardigan. I have a cotton/linen blend cardigan that is too heavy for summer wear but makes a nice house sweater in the winter. Sometimes I have met the challenge working with cotton by slight alterations of the pattern. I may finish edges with crochet or create a garter stitch strip to attach horizontally at the hem as a mock ribbing. that allows for a little more stretch than a traditional rib hem. Another way to keep a cotton knit cool is to look for ways to add a bit of open work. Perhaps lace at the yoke and/or down the side seams with a zigzag hem! With at least 2 more months of very hot weather forecasted, I need to keep my knitting cool. 😎
Wow, thank you so much for sharing your observations and knowledge. So many helpful points. Yes, I have learnt that lightweight yarn knit at a fine gauge, with considerable ease makes for great summer garments. I am going for almost the same goal with my fluens tee design - "depending on the ease/fiber with which it is knit, it can serve as a layer or a top by itself". I have knit my sample with no ease for myself and the silk/merino content, hopefully will make it a good layer in the winter. It wears nicely by itself as a top too. I might still try and knit another one in different fiber and a larger size to get a more drapey summer top, let's see. Now the crochet edging and garter stitch strip sounds like brilliant ideas. Thank you. I have done folded hems here in this design, as I wanted to avoid traditional ribbing. Traditional ribbing seems almost meaningless with plant yarns. They just don't seem to care. :))
Thanks for the link, Kavitha! Your new tee is lovely.
Thank you so much Sandi. 💗