Quick & Easy Knit Summer Shirt

The summer is coming, I can feel it!! :)

This is the perfect time for a super easy and quick Summer Shirt!

I only used about half the yarn I ordered for my Lace Shrug. Two balls of the super soft merino lace yarn by Lana Grossa were left.
So, I asked myself what can you make out of two balls of lace yarn that's suitable for wearing almost every day and can be styled to be worn casual and maybe in a business outfit as well. After browsing around a while and getting inspired, I came across the free pattern for the silken straw summer sweater by The Purl Bee. And something about it remained in my mind.
A few days later, the decission was made: I'm going to knit this sweater, but - of course, you know me - with some modifications :)

As you can see in the picture below, the whole shirt is knitted in stockintee stich as the basic pattern. That's what makes this shirt so easy to knit (you can easily watch TV while knitting this :) ) and it's also very fast because you don't have concentrate on every row and if something in the pattern is changing.
The stockinette stich gives the front a kind of plain appearance which makes the shirt casual but classic chic and sophisticated at the same time. This gives you a lot of room to play with accessories and style it in many different ways. And that's excactly what I wanted - to be able to wear it in different occasions.

The shirt is circular knitted in one piece from bottom to top. (so, no seaming and of course no visible
seams! :) ) I can say, it is wonderfully airy, light, amazingly soft and very pleasant to wear! <3 The rather big sleeves make it extra comfy, as well.

But as I said earlier, I had to style it up a bit! ;) I mean, that's what makes it fun: designing things like you want them to be and give the knitted pieces your own style and kind of your idenfication mark. ;) So, what I did here is incorporating a reticulated pattern which I found in a book called The essential stich collection by L. Stanfield and M. Griffiths.

I used the basic stich ( in the book it is called fern lace stich) and formed a bigger diamond-shaped
eye-catcher in the back and little rectangles on the sleeves.

Here you can see a close-up of the back.

And for those of you who like this nice and loosening detail, I want to share the pattern for this part
with you :) Just work this pattern from bottom to top in the back half of the shirt. Be careful to place it in the middle.

See the rectangles on the sleeves: really pretty, isn't it?! <3

I can also imagine to wear this piece at the beach as a cover up because it's so light and because
of its length ;) (looks like I just found another place to wear it :) )

Well, I hope you like it and if you want to make your own: you've got all you need in this post! :)
I wish you a sunny weekend and happy knitting!!! :D

/Stefanie :)