Knit Riley Tee by Amy Christoffers

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The Riley Tee is my first knit garment since having a baby! This is the Riley Tee by Amy Christoffers from Issue 25: Summer 2018 of Pom Pom Quarterly. Pom Pom is one of our favourite knitting magazines, and we have most of their issues. I chose this pattern because it’s a summer garment that is knit entirely from garter stitch. That means no purling!

I used two types of merino-cotton yarn: Schulana Merino Cotton 135 and Classic Elite Yarns Song. The Schulana yarn is 53% merino wool and 47% cotton, while the Classic Elite Yarns yarn is 50% wool and 50% cotton. Both are DK weight, and I had five skeins of each. The beige Schulana yarn had a slightly larger yardage than the Song. At times I worried that I would run out of the red yarn. Thankfully I won this game of yarn chicken!

I chose to knit size 4, which has a 46″ bust circumference. I also used 2.75 mm needles instead of the listed 3.75 mm ones, since my gauge is very loose. However, my finished top is 42″. I followed the well-written instructions and row counts, apart from working 51 in the Garter Stripe pattern for both left and right side panels. My gauge turned out to be slightly tighter than the pattern recommended. Consequently, I found the top to be a bit too cropped for my taste. Therefore, when I finished the neckband, I used whatever yarn I had left to add a bit of length.

After picking up the stitches at the bottom, I knit four beige and three red stripes. Since I knit the garter stripes in the round, this means I had to purl. However, only seven rounds of purling out of the whole top is not bad! Now the top hits me just at my hip, which I think is perfect for summer!

I was worred that I would run out of the red yarn, so I knit the sleeves in just beige, without the stripe. Additionally, I knit the neckband with beige. Thankfully I finished the top with just 4 g of the red to spare!

The photos of the Riley tee in the magazine show 4-8″ of positive ease. I find that much ease to be too much for me. My finished top has 0 ease, and I find the fit to be comfortable.

See some of my other summer knits here:

• Cascata Tee
• Leiden Tee
• Cullum Tee