Raspberry Soda Top

Hey Sweeties,

I finished another knit you guys, my fourth of the year!

I call this my Raspberry Soda Top. I used Raspberry Muse Jimmy Sock yarn from HauteKnitYarn to knit up the Soda Pop Top by Rachel Legget.

We can start with the pattern, Soda Pop Top from Rachel Legget.

The Ravelry description of the pattern says: “Soda Pop Top is a fitted, cropped sweater designed to emulate the iconic 1950s Sweater Girl look. This top is knit in pieces from the bottom up with set-in sleeves and bust darts to create a well-tailored fit, with shoulders that stay in place and bunch-free armpits.“

This is a seamed garment, meaning it’s knit in pieces: front, back, and each of the sleeves, and then all the pieces are sewn together.

The bust is shaped and there is waist shaping, with a slight blouson effect to give that cute 1950s Sandy from Grease vintage good girl vibe.

Now, let’s talk about the yarn.

This is HauteKnitYarn Jimmy sock yarn in the Raspberry Muse colorway.

This colorway is no longer available from HauteKnitYarn but there are other, extremely beautiful yarns that I will be purchasing in the future.

Jimmy sock is a 4 ply fingering weight yarn. There are approximately 463 yards in each 100 gram hank. It’s sock yarn so it is a nylon blend, 75% Superwash Merino wool & 25% Nylon.

Ok, so, here’s my Raspberry Soda Top!

As always, there is a project page for this top on Ravlery.

Soda Pop Top by Rachel Legget

Started: April 25, 2021

Finished: July 18, 2021

Gauge: 28 sts x 38 rows = 4 inches

Needles: US 2

Yarn: HauteKnitYarn Jimmy Sock in Raspberry Muse

• Fingering Weight : 463 yards

You guys, I LOVE THIS PATTERN!

I cannot handle how cute this is.

When I first found this pattern, I was obsessed, but I was nervous about the seaming. I did it any way though, because even though I didn’t think I was skilled enough to do it properly, I wanted to have this thing, despite my perceived lack of skill.

I made very few changes to the pattern actually. I knit my gauge swatch and was about a half inch short with the US 2 needles that the pattern calls for so I did move up to US 3. The other change I made was knitting two different sizes. I followed the size 3 pattern instructions for the back and sleeves of the sweater but I knit size 4 for the front, for the bust shaping and to make the waist a little bigger, for fit.

The pattern itself isn’t too difficult. I had already tried, failed, and figured out how to m1r and m1l which was a part of this pattern. In this pattern, I tried and failed German short rows, which I haven’t figured out yet, but I’m still at it.

It did take me a few months to finish this project because I was knitting it in and around the Kiss Me Ursa and the Storm Clouds and Rainbows Summerize. It wasn’t hard though. I liked working on the pieces individually because you get the rush of serotonin that comes from binding off and it comes so quickly and regularly!

This is a fingering weight project done on small-ish needles, which aren’t my favorite. I’ve mentioned before that small needles are the bane of my existence. I do gravitate to Worsted weight projects on US 6 or bigger needles but, with an outcome like this, I will not complain.

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I did have a bit of a heart attack moment with this top.

My youngest baby, Majesty Brandon, got his hands on a pair of scissors and went in on my top. He cut 4 or 5 holes in my Soda Pop Top, some of them horizontal, which were the easiest to fix, others were straight vertical, which I found nearly impossible to repair cleanly.

I did end up fixing it, though the patch is NOT pretty but I don’t think I mind. I am trying to be less critical about the things I make and to play things as they lie when they don’t go my way.

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The next Soda Pop Top I make will have long sleeves, I think, the pattern comes with a long sleeve option. But, I might make another short sleeved top but do contrasting hem, cuff and neckline. I saw a version that is a variegated pink with a tonal teal hem, cuffs and neckline. It was so cute!

I recently reorganized my Ravelry queue to better reflect my most immediate knitting plans so feel free to check me out over on Ravelry for that kind of information as well as follow me on Instagram for more knitting, and everything else, content from me. Follow #sundayknits, #deedeecreative & #deedeeknits to see what I’m up to.

Happy Sunday, and have fun knitting!

DeeDee