It’s knitting season!

Now that the sun sets at 5pm now, I feel like my body also starts loosing energy so much earlier. All I want to do is bundle up and watch Great British Bake off as I work through my knitting.

For my latest knitting project, I was inspired by a couple of brands. The newest collection from the it-girl Australian brand, With Jéan, includes a keyhole halter top which inspired my overall design. I really wanted to create a keyhole neckline, but I also wanted the top to be adjustable with straps instead of pieced together at the back of the neck, so that inspired me to basically make a bralette top with alternating colors. Another brand that also inspired my design is Florida boutique label, Simonett. The Simonett Nanu knitted top has been worn by so many of my favorite fashion bloggers this year and I can totally see why since the knitted top can be worn in so many different ways.

Halter Top Instructions:

The halter top consists of three main pieces, two triangles for the bust and a long rectangle for the waistline.
Waistline: Since I used pretty thick yarn, I only needed to cast on about 25 stitches to cover what I wanted to be the length between my under-boob and belly button. This will vary for you depending on the kind of yarn you are knitting with and how much coverage you want over your torso. My waist measures between 25-26 inches in circumference, so I simply kept knitting and measuring to the halfway point then switched from black yarn to white yarn. Note: If you want, you can simply knit the rectangle piece and wrap around your bust to wear as a tube top. See photo below.
Bust: This part is a bit trickier and again the stitch count will vary for you depending on the size of your bust. For me, I started with 15 stitches and knitted about a half of dozen rows before slowly reducing the stitch count to create the triangles.
This is an experimental process because if you start reducing too fast then your triangle will become too narrow too fast and you won’t have enough coverage for your bust, so it might take some trial and error to get the desired width. For the straps, once I only had about 4-5 stitches left on my knitting needle, I kept on knitting until the tip of the triangle turned into one narrow rectangle. You can continue knitting until you get the desired length for your straps.
The finished piece should look like a radish with a very long stem (start off square, then slowly angle into a triangle, then keep knitting into one long shoulder strap). Tip: stretch out the piece as you work and lay it over one side of your chest to see if it’s enough coverage for you.
You’ll repeat this process twice. Once with white yarn and once with black yarn, so that you have two pieces to create into the bust. An alternative option is to only knit the two triangles and simply sew them together at the corners to create a bralette. You’ll also need to measure your waistline and knit another narrow rectangle (4-5 stitches in width) to create the bottom strap.
Construction: Once you have your long rectangle (waistline) and two triangles (bust), now you can assemble. For the waistline, simply use a piece of yarn to sew the two ends together. I personally like to keep half of the back open for a more dramatic look. For the bust, sew the flat, square sides of the triangles to the mouth of the main rectangle. Try to keep these pieces as centered as possible so that your piece turns out symmetrical. Then you’re done!
Overall, it took me about two weeks to make this top, but in actuality I spent about six hours knitting one night because I just wanted to finish and wear it. I love the checker board pattern that is created by alternating yarns and now I’m thinking of knitting pants or a skirt! For this project, I used scrap yarn that I just had laying around the house, so I don’t think you need anything special to make a top like this yourself!

If you have any questions about design, my instructions, or how to re-create something similar, please let me know in the comments section down below. Happy knitting!

xx

Ella Kol