Bound Off: Beach House
Last week we had a brief respite from the most intense, muggy summer weather--temperatures held in the low 80s, humidity was down, and it was a delightful break after several days in a row with heat indices over 100.
But yesterday the heat and humidity returned, so it was the perfect time to take my finished Beach House for a spin.
The ideal thing to wear when the weather warms up is a skimpy, spaghetti-strapped tank top, but really, those shirts are only flattering on a relatively small percentage of the population--and that percentage does not include women who have had 2 babies in 2 years and are working on losing the last 9 pounds of baby weight.
But there's no need to throw all those tanks in the trash--Beach House makes a perfect layer to give you a little extra coverage without any added warmth. It's light and airy and adorable and I think I'll be wearing it frequently for the rest of the summer, especially on our trip to the beach next month. (I am now using the term "trip" because it has been brought to my attention that if children are accompanying you, you're NOT going on vacation.)
What really makes this piece special are the small details--the asymmetrical hem, the garter stitch back, and the pleat at the collar. It's just perfect to give a casual outfit a little something special.
(And I'm sure it would be just darling with shorts as well, but I'm about to go to the grocery store here, which is just a giant, walk-in refrigerator.)
I knit my Beach House in Cascade Ultra Pima, in Purple Ice, which I randomly stumbled across in my stash. I bought it years ago thinking I was going to design a beach coverup with it and ... clearly that didn't happen. It's 100% pima cotton, delightfully soft, and it took less than 2 skeins for this project.
In theory, I knit the size 40" bust, as the recommendation is to pick the measurement 3" larger than your actual bust size and that was the closest for me. However, somewhere along the way I screwed up, and when it came time to split the fronts, I found myself 12 stitches short. Did I have too many stitches on the back? Did I just cast-on the wrong number of stitches in the first place? I'm still not sure. I just knit my fronts narrower, which gives it a slightly deeper v-neck, and left it at that. After blocking it's closer to 38", which is just about +3" for me anyway. Divine intervention?
I thought these lace flats were a perfect match for this outfit--too bad actually walking in them is uncomfortable as all get out, but they're nice to look at, and cover up the fact that I need desperately need to repaint my toes.
(I used to wear a lot of adorable summer sandals before I had kids; now I mostly wear tennis shoes for walks and flip-flops the rest of the time. And by tennis shoes, I mean with socks. And shorts. In summer. I KNOW! But I have no choice--this neighborhood has a serious goose problem and every walking surface is covered in their leavings.)
If you're still undecided about buying the Summer issue of Holla Knits, I definitely encourage you to go for it--this is a great pattern, and I can't wait to cast-on my next project from this issue, Backbone, for the Holla Knits Summer KAL.
