Ready to Knit the Perfect Summer Project Rowan Top Step By Step Knitting Course.

When you get it on your needles you'll go, why didn't you tell me how nice this is? I want to introduce you to my brand new summer top, the Rhone top. I actually started this last year, last summer when I was away on holidays. I really loved the feel of the yarn and so I was trying to figure out what could I get started that I didn't have to think about too much. So I began with a nice simple edging, started working in the round and then fast forward to this year and I ended up finishing the top part. It's just the yarn felt so beautiful that it felt all about the details. It was about cowl neck, the folded edge and just complete wearability and the feel of that really, really nice tussock tweed. So it's hard to feel what this yarn is like but it's a very loose drapey yarn. So even though it's knitted a looser gauge, it actually isn't too porous. It gives a fabric that you can wear and it's not see-through which is really useful for a summer top. So light and not see-through is a great bonus. So that's where it all started and today this is all about the introduction of it and also an introduction to the YouTube course. So if you haven't done a YouTube course with us before you can actually find a link to the YouTube course where what you'll find is tutorials for every section of the pattern. So any techniques that is used in this pattern I'm going to detail what you do, how you work through it and so it means that everything that you need to knit it will be there ready for you all in one place. So it's done, started with the provisional cast on, you fold this extra, you knit this section in the round, then you do a folded hem and you take the provisional cast off and you knit those two together. So very straightforward to do and gives you this lovely seamless edge in the bottom. Then you knit the body up in the round, there isn't any shaping with it and you begin with the back where you work it flat, you've got armhole increases so it's slightly racerback style, not quite, it pulls in a little bit, a little bit more than you would have for a set and sleeve. Just a tiny bit extra in here, a little bit short rows to slope the top of the shoulders and then you put those stitches in hold. Then to get this drape in the front you actually just knit straight. So the drape then is created by using that extra fabric and leaving it here. So your stitches are joined together in the back and the front for the shoulder and each side because any armhole increases you had, you're not leaving them here, you're leaving them in the middle here. So that means that you get that really nice drape. There's a couple of short rows to just create a small bit more fabric up there but it's basically just the fact that you're not doing the armhole decreases as you come up. So you can see from that that one of the possible modifications you might want to make is a bigger or a smaller cowl in the front. So for the larger sizes you are going to automatically have a bigger drape there because you're going to have a bit more stitches in the front relative to the back. If you're knitting one of the smaller sizes and you want a little bit more then you could either add a couple of increases coming up here or even in a V under there so that when you join the shoulder stitches you have more stitches that will drape up there. You could also add a couple of extra short rows if you wanted it to kind of hang a little bit more loosely. So those are possibilities where you if you want to have that a little bit more drapey, cowly is the best way to put it. And the final detail that I haven't mentioned yet is the edging we have along here along the outside here. We picked up stitches around the armhole opening and typically I would use an I-cord bind off for there because it's very attractive and sturdy but it's also quite obvious because it's it's very visibly an I-cord bind off but I wanted something a little bit more subtle so after picking up stitches I used an Icelandic bind off which creates a very nice edge and it holds it pretty straight but it's much more subtle than an I-cord bind off. Same for the neck around here the I-cord bind off I felt took a place between leaving it unfinished and having something that's firmer which would be the I-cord bind off. So everything really worked to enhance the drapiness, the softness and the kind of the casual elegance of this piece. It's nice to wear, it's comfortable, it's just an easy summer piece is the best way of putting it. So that kind of leads us on to taking a look at the yarn. So the yarn I used for this is the BC, I've got a stack of them here, the BC Garn Tossa Tweed and the biggest advantage of this is it's 100% silk yarn but it is a wild silk. So wild silk is slubby, it's cruelty free because they wait for the moth to leave and then they harvest the silk after that. So that means that the little flecks you've got are based on what it's eaten and it's going to have a whole pile of colour variations and that little slubbiness to it. It's very light, the thing that's difficult is photographs and even looking at it knit up doesn't do it justice. When you get it on your needles you'll go why didn't you tell me how nice this is? So this is one I think that has to be experienced on your needles to really appreciate what a pleasant fabric it is to knit and what a pleasant fabric it is to wear. So if you are looking for a substitute this is a fingering weight yarn but do be aware I knit it on three and a half millimetre needles at a slightly looser gauge and this particular yarn allows that. It kind of blooms, it opens up, it fills in the stitches and even though it's light and open it's got a solid enough fabric that you don't have to wear a tank underneath it. So if you are finding a substitute you want one that will have the same qualities that it's going to bloom, it will fill those stitches in and it's not going to have a see-through fabric even if you knit it at a looser gauge. So that's the key thing when you're trying to find a substitute. So hopefully you have all of the information you need now to get started on the sweater, pick your yarn, get started with the gauge. You can follow through the course and just pop through each of the videos in the playlist so you can see all the techniques you're going to need to use as you work your way through.