Anker’s Summer Shirt Review
The clouds part and the sun shines in, birds are chirping; it’s going to be a good day. Why, you might ask? Well this is one of those magical moments where the stars aligned and I found a perfect pattern with the perfect fit and the perfect yarn. Finished in time to wear it during the correct time of year, no less! That almost never happens; I think I might need to go play the lottery today to capitalize on this lucky streak.
With the quarantine going on, I knew I needed to keep myself busy to try and maintain some semblance of normalcy. I’ll be honest, I have 3 current unfinished projects on my needles, but none of them were speaking to me. It’s hard to get motivated to continue knitting a wool cabled sweater in the height of spring. 🤷🏻♀️
After a quick Ravelry search, I found the Anker’s Summer Shirt pattern from PetiteKnit. I mean, look at that neckline — who wouldn’t want this in their wardrobe!? Recently I’ve had more misses than hits when knitting myself tops, so I really needed a win, especially with the state of the world right now.
I happened to have a bunch of Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton yarn in my stash — originally meant for making reusable grocery bags, I decided that this would be a better use considering the recent request from nearby stores to please not use these during the pandemic. Most of the pattern examples used creams and natural/earth tones which I felt really highlighted the 1x1 rib pattern on the yoke, so I went with the color Ecru.
Lion Brand 24/7 Cotton Yarn In Ecru
This yarn knits up beautifully, it’s soft but also has structure, highlighting that stitch definition. It also doesn’t break the bank!
The hope is that this yarn will give great stitch definition while not being too hot. The worsted weight in 100% cotton does mean that it will probably feel a little heavy, but it shouldn’t be too warm.
From the start, this pattern is great. A few sets of 1x1 ribbing gives this top such a unique look, I couldn’t help but take progress pics as this started to take shape!
I said it before and I’ll say it again, this pattern is great. It was so clear and easy to follow, and it shows. This knits up super fast, and the next thing you know the raglan increases are done and you’re separating the sleeves. And it already looks great! The only thing I didn’t love was the jog in the middle as that’s where the row ends/begins, but it’s only really noticeable on the rib sections, and this will be on the back side.
Once everything is divided up and the sleeves are on hold, the rest of this knits up super fast. Knitting rows and rows of stockinette can get a little monotonous, so it was a perfect project to work on with something on in the background. Tolt Yarn & Wool (one of my LYS here in WA) has also been having weekly virtual stitch circles, so this has been the perfect place to work on this project while staying relatively social!
Not only was this one of the quickest tops I’ve knit, this was a joy to work on from beginning to end. The pattern well worth the money, and the yarn turned out to be a surprise hit. On top of that, this top fits like a glove. I knit this in the XS size and was a little worried half-way through it might be too small/too short, but blocking it out, it ended up being the exact dimensions I was hoping for.
Stay tuned for my next post which will talk about why you should always, always block your finished knits (complete with before and after pics, of course!).
