Color Block Pullover

I hope you’re all staying safe and well. Despite our state opening up, we’re still sheltering-in-place as much as we can. I’ve returned to working from home, which is surprisingly exhausting — I worked from home for years, but these circumstances are very different.

I would like to be someone who shares a post about my mask-making efforts during this time at home, but I can’t do it. I donated quite a bit of fabric to other makers, then settled in to two days of mask production. I barely made enough masks for our household and the effort left me emotionally drained. It took me more than two days to get out of the funk that I fell into. My making time is a time for escaping from reality for a little while; this kept my mind focused on the virus and its effects. Even though I know that homemade masks have serious limitations, I felt so much responsibility to get them right. If I were to send someone out in a mask that I made and they caught COVID-19, it would gut me. I wholeheartedly applaud those of you who are throwing yourselves into making masks.

My attention span has been short, so I’ve been bouncing around between different activities. As far as knitting, machine sewing, and hand sewing, I think I have four projects in progress right now. I’ve also been exercising, learning French and CSS code, reading romance novels and books related to my work, and doing crossword puzzles. And let’s not forget combing through various websites trying to find essentials in stock, meal planning like we’re in an episode of Chopped, and the usual cooking and cleaning. But I actually managed to finish something!

With summer coming soon, I wanted to knit another warm-weather top. I decided on the #22 Color Block Pullover by Mari Lynn Patrick in the Late Winter 2019 issue of Vogue Knitting. The yarn I chose is Lana Grossa Linea Pura Solo Lino in the colorways 3 Rose, 35 Dark Rose, and 39 Lilac. I know, Lilac is a bit of an oddball choice with the rose colors but it looked more pink on my computer screen when I was placing my order.

This t-shirt is supposed to be oversized, but the pattern doesn’t mention how much positive ease to include when choosing a size. I made a Small to give me four inches (10.2 cm) of positive ease, anticipating that the linen could make the garment grow with wearing. After blocking and wearing, it’s still measuring true to size and I like the look and feel as it is. While it is not close-fitting, I think I could have gone up one size for more of an oversized look — but I worry that then the armholes would be too large. Maybe armhole length wouldn’t be an issue with the sleeves hanging further down my arms.

The pattern was easy to follow. My biggest frustration was due to the fact that the only knitting needles I have in the size I needed are aluminum. It was a constant effort to prevent the stitches from slipping off.

The yarn is wonderful. It felt nice in my hands while I was knitting, and feels even better while wearing. It gives the shirt a nice drape and swing that feels pleasantly heavy and airy at the same time.

As far as the colors, as I mentioned they’re not exactly what I was expecting but I like them well enough. Looking at the website even now, I don’t know if I could pick a better combination if I ordered again. Maybe next time, it will be worth the time to screenshot all of the colors so I can mix and match to see them side by side. If anyone knows of a yarn store that incorporates a "compare these colors" type of feature on their site, please let me know in the comments!