I’m not sure if this is a top or a mixed media project, but it’s the closest I’ve gotten to a shirt I ruined at an ice cream festival in 2018. The original was a soft white tee, cropped at the waist, with tassels sewn to the bottom. Although I realized while I was working on this pattern, that it was the spiritual successor the kids shirts my mom made as party favors back in the late 90s – Hanes t-shirts with ribbon and Hobby Lobby ball fringe sewn to the bottoms. This is the sweater equivalent of buying ribbon spools from a sweet old lady in a vest.

I learned my lesson though, I didn’t make it in white. My tassel crop top only lasted a year. On its final day in the sun, I took a Lime scooter to the ice cream festival. I didn’t drip ice cream on it, like you would think. It was so hot that day, the rubber glue keeping my cross-body bag’s strap together melted and left a dark sticky stain down my shoulder that looked like tar, or catastrophic bird poop. 

If this story in any way compelled you to knit one for yourself, 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.