FO: Alice Top

Here she comes,

Nice weather + husband in a good mood = outdoor photo

Pattern: Alice Top by Katya Wilsher

Size: 30 that fits bust 32 with 2 inch negative ease

Yarn: Cascade Cash Vero DK (5 balls) 12% cashmere, 55% merino and 33% microfiber

Needle: size 6

Modification: Skip waist shaping

This is the most beautiful top I ever knitted, Mr. Su calls it a piece or art work. It is worked top down (yay to no seaming). The construction is very straight-forward, knit everything (body and sleeves) up to the yoke section and then separate the sleeves. From there on, work the body in straight or you can also do waist shaping. At the end, you just add frills to the bottom and sleeve edges.

There are four different lace patterns to keep track of on front and back, so having stitch markers are key to knitting kick-ass lace pattern. At first, the different lace patterns really intimidated me. But, after doing two different diamond lace pattern repeats, I totally got how it worked and made less mistake. There were a point where I made a mistake and boy, it took me nearly a week to fix. I skip the waist shaping because there’s already a built-in 2 inch negative ease so that should shape my waist.

The pattern is very well-written and easy to understand. Believe it or not, those beautiful lace patterns are made of straight knit, purl, k2tog, ssk and yo, nothing fancier than that. Katya also has a ton of tutorials on her web if you are interested.

The back view

I am happy with how it turns out. it is so girly, no? love the details and totally perfect to welcome spring. I can pair it with skirt or jeans. I also love the yarn, it is soft, easy to work with, doesn’t pill and doesn’t make me itch.