knit t-shirt – One Rabbit Riot

I asked myself this question last summer with genuine uncertainty. Knitting is such a cold-weather medium that a knit made to be breathable and light for warm weather seemed, well, a bit like an impractical fashion piece. I think this is an important question to ask of ourselves before we jump on a trend. Whether it is to buy a knit t-shirt or to handknit (which means you are dedicating weeks of work to a project), having the right expectation matters. Trying on a knit t-shirt beforehand helped me visualize what I was in for. Knitwear for all seasons is currently having a moment even in ready-to-wear, which makes this a great time to go try on a piece before committing to a big project.

Wearing my Grandma’s cotton knit t-shirts, although they were two sizes too small, helped me visualize knit as a process to make a fabric instead of a woolly winter garment. That’s what makes knitting and crochet extraordinary skills; they are versatile. The fiber maketh the project. The stitch maketh the airflow. Lacey, open weave? Fantastic for hot and humid days. Not so much for a pair of mittens.

To remedy this, I think fiber acquaintance is a fantastic way to learn whether a knit t-shirt is right for you. When I began knitting in 2012, I knew there was wool yarn and acrylic yarn. That was it. However, there is actually a rainbow of fiber waiting to be discovered, and the lineup sure has expanded in the last 13 years!

Cotton

Linen

Bamboo

Hemp

Pineapple

Lyocell

Rayon

Yak

Alpaca

Camel

Mohair

Cashmere

Silk

Did you know that wool has two unique properties? It helps you regulate temperature and is naturally antibacterial/antimicrobial; therefore, it inhibits bacterial growth naturally on the fiber and prevents odors, which is why it is such a great sock material! Although I wouldn’t recommend wool for summer tops, it is a remarkable fiber. There are two fibers, though, that are breathable and naturally don’t let bacteria and microbes hang around – it’s linen and silk! For fiber education and the chance to feel these materials, I recommend finding a friendly local yarn shop and talking to the experts.

Finally, I do have one possible hiccup with my current selection of hand-knit t-shirts. I can’t wear them in 85 degrees Fahrenheit weather and above with humidity, but I do believe a knit tank would fix this problem, and a lacey stitch technique in future projects will solve this. I don’t like sweating a lot in my handknits, and because I was learning with my first few tees, the knitted cotton fabric is a bit bulky. That’s my error. You know what is so cool about knitting, though? You can unravel the finished garments and try again, so I can rework these finished garments in the future. Anyway, I hope you will consider the knit t-shirt as a warm weather staple in your wardrobe, it’s a lovely way to use crochet and knitting all year round!

This year I’ve been looking for ways to use my stash as completely as possible and use up what I have to make new fibers and new projects. One way I accomplished this was through color palette knitting and through the stripe hype sweater. But another project idea I had this summer was to try minimal colorwork knitting by “painting” with yarn through a mix of new cotton yarn I purchased and yarn extras my mom passed onto me. This helped stretch the teal cotton yarn I bought, underestimating how much I needed to make a t-shirt. It was an opportunity to make a “graphic print” t-shirt out of yarn, something I didn’t have in my wardrobe, but sounded like a fun piece to wear.

These are the yarns I decided to use for the landscape painting section of the garment. Cotton yarn that was originally purchased by my mom to create handknit dishcloths in a color selection of blue, green, and pooling gray-to-white-to-blue, a lime green cotton-bamboo yarn, and the teal cotton I purchased. The pooling yarn was perfect for the clouds. Each side of the garment is unique because of this pooling yarn like a real sky. The plain blue was used for water, the dark green for a marshy grown-up bank, and the lime green for sunkissed meadows of grass. The teal was used for a distant tree line that was framed by the clouds.

I opted to make this oversized with a short sleeve opening, somewhere between a vest and a t-shirt because I haven’t decided how I want to wear this. As a t-shirt of course but do I want this to be a layering piece in the cooler months of the year? Or do I want to make detachable sleeves? That is something I am still milling over in my mind. I did split the back of the piece in a moment of indecision, where I thought it would be cute to make it a short-sleeved button cardigan. I may do this in the future. I opted to keep the t-shirt structure for simplicity and the ability to wear it more quickly. I was impatient to wear it.

I love projects that utilize things I already own and use techniques I haven’t tried before. Since this project I’ve begun to learn proper colorwork knitting, it’s been fun. Thank goodness for YouTube and knitting books to make the complicated things, like learning how to switch colors, feel approachable!

How have you been expressing your creativity this week? Do you like getting crafty? Are you a knitter and have you tried colorwork knitting before?

Tag: knit t-shirt

Will I Wear a Knit T-Shirt?

Landscape Painting with Yarn