Monsieur Hulot’s Holiday is one of my favourite movies, and every time I watch it I fall in love again with the costumes (among so many other things!). I had been meaning to knit myself a summer sweater worthy of the holidaymakers of the movie for a few years, so in July, when I was trying to decide on my next knitting project, I settled on a striped cropped sweater that I thought would fulfill this need.
I knew I wanted navy and cream stripes on a cropped sweater with a fitted waist; I also wanted to try Drops Muskat, but I didn’t know what pattern to use. I hadn’t even thought about that option, but Mimolette convinced me that the kind of sweater I wanted would be pretty easy to design myself…
And she was right! After all, the effect I was looking for didn’t need a lot of shaping; all it required were two rectangles, one for the front and one for the back, a few increases at the neckline and a lot of decreases at the waist, and that’s it!
I knit this sweater Andi Satterlund style, i.e. seamless and from the top down, knitting the top of the back, picking up the front shoulder stitches and knitting the top of the front then joining front and back and knitting in the round (see Ravelry notes for more details).
As for the distribution of the stripes, I made it up as I went along. When I realised I wouldn’t have enough navy yarn to go on with my four navy rows, four cream rows design, I simply started knitting wider cream stripes. I was afraid until the end that I wouldn’t have enough yarn to finish the sweater, but I did (with less than a metre of either yarn left after I cast off)!
This sweater was knit in less than two weeks, so I could take it to Spain with me and I wore it a lot there both with the red Chardon you see in the pictures and my polka dot skirt. And I’ve already worn it here in Belgium, too, in the week I’ve been back!
Now if only my last sewing projects could be as successful as my last knitting projects: I couldn’t finish either of the two summer dresses I’d started before my departure (a Centaurée and the Juni dress from this book that was my final choice for the Outfit Along), and I haven’t had enough energy to get back to sewing since my return. Sooo much easier to knit in the couch than to get up and sew!
Tassadit, this is gorgeous you clever thing! And so very Summery!
Thank you! 🙂
Omg yes! I find it so much harder to motivate myself to get off the couch and sew! Your top is so sweet and I’m very impressed you drafted it yourself. The stripes are great 🙂
Thank you! 🙂
There’s nothing impressive in drafting two rectangles really, but I must say I’m pretty impressed myself! 😀
Heureuse de te lire de nouveau après cette pause estivale! Sylvaine
Merci beaucoup Sylvaine! Et moi je suis heureuse d’être de retour par ici! 🙂
I love the irregularity of the stripes 🙂 and it’s amazing you just made it up as you went! I’m a total control freak who sticks to patterns :p
I’m normally a control freak too, but I tried to think outside the box for once and it must have paid up! Luck of the beginner! 🙂
So clever and chic – and very impressive you designed it yourself!
Thank you so much! If I can do it, anyone can, really!
this is beautiful!!! i really like how the stripes grow bigger on the lower part. just tell everybody you thought hard about it and designed it this way, and everybody will believe you!
Well of course I thought hard about it and designed it this way, what makes you believe otherwise? 😀
Ooh I think it looks lovely. Excellent job!
Thank you! 🙂
This is nice. I like the combination of it with the read skirt.
*red
Thank you! It’s one of my favourite colour combinations!
waouh, bravo pour le self-design!! il est très joli ce petit top d’été, j’adore le look marinière, et puis bleu-blanc-rouge c’est un peu mes couleurs préf’ :)… et il te va super bien!! et pour la reprise derrière la mac, chez moi c’est pareil, depuis le retour à bruxelles, plein de projets avant départ à finir, envie de nouveaux projets, mais pas encore eu le courage :);;; par contre les aiguilles à tricoter ont été plus actives :)… bonne rentrée!! cécile
Merci! 🙂
C’est fou comme c’est dur de s’y remettre hein? Je commence à me dire que je vais finir par mettre de côté mes deux en-cours pour m’attaquer à des projets plus motivants… Sauf que je DÉTESTE ne pas terminer mes en-cours, donc en fait il va sans doute quand même falloir que je me botte les fesses! 😀
Bonne rentrée à toi aussi, et bon courage pour la couture! 🙂
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