The Layla Top

Your kit comes with everything you'll need to make your masterpiece. In your kit you'll find;
 

• 6mm needles
• 6-8 balls of Cardigang Chunky Cotton
• A darning needle
• Made by me tag
• 2 sets of hook and eye fasteners 

You also want to have a pair of scissors and a tape measure handy. 

💪 Remember learning a new skill can be a little challenging at first, and you’re bound to find yourself making some mistakes along the way. But as with learning anything, your brain and your hands slowly start to get the hang of it, muscle memory is created, and soon the thing you found tricky/daunting/scary is like second nature! 

BACK

We'll start with the back piece which we knit flat and from the bottom up. 

STEP 1

Using your 6mm needles cast on the correct number of stitches.

💭 Hot tip: your piece will 'grow' as you knit so don't be alarmed if it looks like you're knitting a baby's top to start with!

STEP 2

We're going to work in stockinette stitch which is the stitch pattern created when you knit every stitch in a row and then turn your work and purl every stitch in the next row. You repeat this 2-row sequence for the allocated number of rows. 

💭 One of the things we found the hardest when we were learning to knit was keeping track of our rows. Before we were able to easily identify a row of stitches we used a pen and paper to keep track. That's why we've included handy circles in our patterns - you can tick them off as you go. The dashed circles are for the larger sizes.

STEP 3 - 4

📉 We're going to start decreasing some stitches now. We will do our decreases on knit rows and we use two different techniques for decreasing stitches. 

🎬 Watch how to knit two stitches together

🎬 Watch how to slip, slip knit two stitches together

💭 Why 2 different techniques? Great question. The different techniques create an opposite lean in the stitches.  Knit two together results in a right-slanting decrease and slip, slip knit gives us a left-leaning decrease. 

🧶 Starting a new ball

You'll need to start with a new ball when your first runs out. The best method for beginners is as follows. When you've got about 30cm of yarn left in your current ball, you incorporate the tail from the new ball into your next stitch. You do this by starting the stitch as normal (inserting your right needle into the stitch on your left needle. Then wrap the yarn from the new ball around your right needle and finish the stitch with the new yarn, making sure the loose ends for both balls are on the wrong side/inside of your work. Then all you need to do is tie the two ends together in a knot once you finish the row.

STEP 5

Okay, things are getting a little more complicated now. We're going to work up each shoulder separately and cast off some stitches in the middle of our piece to create the space for the head hole. 

We also continue the shaping in this row so you'll see some decreases scattered through this step!

Knit the allocated number of stitches, then do  a right-slanting decrease. Next, you'll cast off a bunch of stitches, then slip the one stitch from your right needle back onto your left to complete this row. You'll do a left-leaning decrease on this side of the cast-off stitches. 

Well done! 

STEP 6

Flip or turn your work and we're going to purl just the stitches on this side of the cast-off sections first. The rest of the stitches (these make up the other shoulder) will hang out on your needles until we've finished this first shoulder. 

STEP 7 - 12

Flip your work back again and keep working up just this shoulder as instructed. 

STEP 13
Cast off your stitches for the first shoulder. 

When you've got just one stitch left on your right needle, simply cut your yarn from the ball (leaving about 20cm) and thread it back through your last stitch to secure it.

Time to knit up the second shoulder! 💪

STEP 14 - 21

Rejoin your yarn to your work with a knot at the base of the first stitch on your left needle (the one closest to the needle's tip). Then we work up the other shoulder. 

FRONT PIECES

You're powering through this! Well done 🔥

Your front pieces are also made from the bottom up. You'll continue to shape the pieces by decreasing stitches along the way. 

Your front pieces are going to be mirror images of each other so just remember which is which so that there are no mistakes when it comes to sewing together!

SEWING TOGETHER

Time to put all our pieces together to make our beautiful top. Grab your darning needle and let's get to work. 

We will start by joining the back and front pieces together at the shoulders. 

STEP 1

Lay your front and back pieces on a flat surface, the right sides (the sides with the ‘v’s) facing you. Then line up your shoulder straps. You should have the same number of stitches in both sides of each shoulder so they should line up nicely. 

STEP 2

Sew the shoulder straps together using the invisible seam technique.

🎬 Watch how to seam cast off edges together

Next, we're going to seam the sides of our top together.

STEP 3

 Line up the sides of your top so that they meet at the point where your decreases start. Then sew the pieces together. Repeat for the second side. 

🎬 Watch how to seam vertical seams together

HOOK AND EYE