I’ve been wanting to knit something for my mom for a while (especially since I made a sweater for my dad last Christmas) and I finally got an opportunity when she stopped in front of a store window to look at a sleeveless knit top. It was a breezy design with an open gauge and a slight drape entirely appropriate for an August birthday. So I blatantly stole the idea.

Despite this being a pretty quick and easy knit, the first hurdle came when I got the yarn in the mail. I ordered a pima cotton blend the same color as the sweater in the window. But when I opened the plastic shipping bag, I got a whiff of a sheep in a thunderstorm. It’s a smell that takes me back in time to felting beach bags and blocking socks in the Jack and Jill bathroom my sister and I shared – and Dad walking in already holding his nose.

I got the smell out with The Laundress Wool and Cashmere Shampoo, which funnily enough, Mom bought me for Christmas last year, but it was down to the wire. I bound off the neckline last night, leaving me to furiously shampoo it – tails and all – in my bathroom sink at 2am. If it was still a little damp for her birthday dinner, despite some blowdryer action before my own shameless photoshoot with it – I say all the better for the fit if you block a sweater while wearing it.

You can buy the pattern on Ravelry here for sizes XS-XL. If you’d like to be a test knitter and help me expand my size options, please reach out to me here.