A hand knit lace top, sleeveless for summer or for layering. It's knitted using WYS Elements DK, a wool lyocell blend with lots of drape and sheen, in shade 1106.
I started Melody back in April last year when Elements DK was launched. It is a quick knit. Honest. I'm just an easily distracted slow garment knitter! 😆
The pattern is part of WYS book - Timeless Summer. It features 8 designs. We have the book in the shop. Melody is also available as a single pattern on Ravelry and at WYS.
It's sized to fit busts from 28" up to 54". The garment is designed to be worn with 1-3" of positive ease. Our shop sample is 36-38" with a finished bust of 39". It's been photographed on a mannequin with 38" bust.
This top is knitted in two pieces. The front and back are the same. There is no shaping on the main body and only minimal shaping at the neckline. You do need to be able to maintain the droplet lace pattern but it is relatively simple to work it out so don't be put off!
The droplet lace pattern is quite simple to work. It's worked over an 8 row repeat and it's mainly knits and purls. There's only one row where you make the holes. The holes are a simple yarn over followed by a purl 2 together. It looks more complex as the reverse stocking stitch is shown as the 'right' side.
You do need to pick up stitches at the armhole and neckline.
When picking up stitches at the armholes be careful you pick up the 'right' amount. Too many and the armhole could be too big; too few and the armhole will be small and the bust puckered.
A good tip is to 'split' the area into smaller equal sections which will help you pick up stitches evenly. You could use safety pins, or pieces of yarn. I generally use the rule of 3 stitches for every 4 rows but found this was too few stitches for this design and my armhole came out quite small! But it's easy to rip out and try again. I find it really depends on the design and your knitting, especially if you don't match the row gauge used in the pattern.
I had a bit of bother at the neckline as I didn't take care of how I treated the decreasing and I wasn't happy with the way it looked.
If I am knitting flat (which means I have to sew something up) and I'm asked to decrease 1 stitch at the end (or beginning) of a row I usually do it one stitch before the end. This gives a neater edge to sew up.
When doing this at the same time as a stitch pattern you do have to carefully manage how you treat each side, otherwise they end up not matching. This is especially true when working in a rib pattern and decreasing on every row - like Melody's neckline.
sloppy decreasing 😕
For my second attempt I just decreased at the end (or the beginning) of the row (like the pattern said). I made sure to always use a K2tog on the right side and P2tog on the wrong side. I think the important thing is is to be consistent.
I am so pleased I took it back.
neater decreasing 😀
I also did a three needle bind off for the shoulders which worked really well - keeping the ribbed lines consistent. This means I did not cast off the shoulders as instructed by the pattern. Instead I kept them 'live' and cast off the front and back shoulders together - casting off and seaming at the same time. This is a good tutorial on YouTube.
You do need to sew the sides of this garment. I used mattress stitch for reverse stocking stitch, check out this tutorial if you've never done that before.
Elements is a blend of TENCEL™ Lyocell and the finest Falkland wool. Lyocell is harvested from sustainably managed wood sources, and is certified as biodegradable and compostable making this yarn revertible back to nature.
It's also lightweight and lustrous with a silk like sheen.
Elements DK is handwash only and I blocked Melody as I would any wool garment. I soaked it in water with Eucalan wool wash, squished out excess water in a towel then laid the garment out flat. I straightened the neckline and armholes pinning the under arms to keep them even and smoothing out the body of the garment and the ribbing. I then left it to completely dry.
It blocked beautifully!
So pleased we now have a finished sample in the shop for Elements DK. It really is a lovely yarn.
To recap:
You can buy Melody as part of the Timeless Summer book in the Pittenweem shop or online. You can also buy it as a single digital pattern in the Pittenweem shop (it will be emailed to you) or you can buy on Ravelry or at WYS.
You can see our selection of WYS Elements DK here. You could also use any other DK yarn.
