Our Beach-y Version of the Siena Summer Top from Erika Knight

We love Erika Knight's design aesthetic and yarns (and her, for that matter).  We thought we'd do a gradient take on her Siena Design.  The model above is in our version - inspired by the beach.  We knit it up in a Medium using Erika Knight Studio Linen in Pyjama (Color A), Kanoko (Color B), and Bone (Color C).

The Design and the yarn are all available on Row House!

And here's how to make your own.

Step 1 - Choose your 3 colors of Erika Knight Studio Linen (see diagram below to see how colors will lay out).

Step 2 - Choose your size.  You'll need the following amounts for each size:

Small/Medium - Color A - 2 skeins; Color B - 2 skeins; Color C - 2 skeins (6 skeins total)

Large/XL - Color A - 3 skeins; Color B - 2 skeins; Color C - 2 skeins (7 skeins total)

XXL - Color A - 3 skeins; Color B - 3 skeins; Color C - 2 skeins (8 skeins total)

Step 3 - Get Knitting!

You’ll knit both sides as per the Siena Design.  As you're knitting, you'll change colors as follows:

• Begin both Back and Front with Color A.  

Small/Medium: Use 1 skein of Color A for the front, and the other skein for the back.

Large/XL/XXL: Use 1 ½ skeins of Color A for the front, and 1 ½ skeins of Color A for the back.  

Pro Tip: You can figure out how to knit half of a skein by measuring the amount you knit with the first skein.  Divide the amount in half and count the number of rows.  That number of rows equals half a skein worth of knitting, but you will stop 2 rows before that.

• Knit using Color A until you have 150" (or 12 1/2 feet) of Color A remaining in the skein or half skein.  Finish on a wrong side row.

• Knit:  1 row in Color B; 1 row in Color A.  Then Purl: 1 row in Color B; and 1 row in Color A - 4 rows in total.  

To do this, you will knit 1 row in Color B and then return to the beginning of the right side of the work.  You will have the remainder of Color A there, and use that to knit 1 row.  Repeat this on the purl side for 4 alternating rows in total.

• Continue knitting with Color B as follows:

Small/Medium/Large/XL:  Use 1 skein of Color B for front and the other skein for the back.

XXL:  Use 1 ½ skeins of Color B for front and 1 ½ skeins for the back.

•  When you have 150” (12 ½ feet) of Color B remaining, switch to Color C, as you did from Color A to B above.

• We chose to change from Color B to Color C a bit before the end of the skein - around the time that we needed to change to bigger needles for the yoke of the garment.  This should work for all sizes except XXL, but you should measure the Large and XL sizes to make sure you don't change colors too early.

• Continue knitting with Color C to complete the garment.