I’m all about the breathable cotton and cotton blend yarns, especially in my climate where humidity rules the thermostat for a solid 4 months of each year! This spring I started a cute cotton set inspired by this Instagram post. As soon as I saw it I wanted to recreate something similar, with my love for crochet halter tops and the now-insurgent popularity of the cropped mesh sleeve shrug, it inspired me so much! Even more perfectly was that I could use two of my already designed patterns to make my idea – the Acanthus Top and the Window Box Sweater.

I stitched up the halter top part in Lion Brand Pima Cotton, which is my new favorite 100% cotton #4 weight, soft as butter and so easy to work with – I have a brief review of this yarn here. The fuchsias seemed perfect to match with bright golden yellow, two colors I see so often together in the landscape of spring. For this part of the set I used my Acanthus Top pattern.

I made a size Medium, so the top is a little too large on me to fit snugly, as this top has plenty of ease.

For the sleeve shrug, I happened to have very similar colors in ICE Yarns Amigurumi Cotton, a sport weight cotton/acrylic blend yarn perfect for my Window Box Sweater, as that design requires a #2 weight yarn held double. I stitched up the collar and sleeve ends in contrasting gold, with bright fuchsia for the rest. Luckily the Window Box is absolutely perfect for making those mesh shruggie sleeves that are everywhere right now! All you have to do is stitch the first part of the design (collar down and in the round) until the point just after joining the sides and creating the armholes.

Then, skip the bottom part of the sweater instructions entirely and just make the sleeves. BAM! Shruggie city. I honestly didn’t expect this project to come together quite so perfectly – can you believe I had two completely different yarn types in such similar colors? I’m pretty darn happy with the result 🙂 I also made this part of the set a Medium, to match in size as well as color.

But that’s not all I’ve been up to. I love taking time off from writing my own designs to challenge myself from my collection of purchased patterns from other creators. It’s so rewarding to make and show off something from someone else’s brain, and I always end up learning so much. Here’s another cool cotton wearable I made recently using the same Pima cotton yarn, the Fleetwood Bralette from Small Town Coven!

This design was quick to make and easy to understand, I especially love the diagonal stripes you can create with the collar down, slanting stitch work (and those cups are comfy!!). The back is open with a criss cross on the back and a simple tie at the neck. These days I need more strap support than that, as a woman solidly in my 30’s, but I know this piece is going to find a good home with some future fae who vibes with violet 🙂

I still have some finished projects waiting to be revealed, but I must pace myself. I hope your spring season has been as fulfilling and productive as mine has been – with lots of summer lounging to look forward to 🙂

-MF