Lace Top Knitting Pattern

Lace Top in Noro Taiyo

What Is Being Made

This is an intermediate-level knitted lace top designed for three finished bust sizes: Small (40 inches/101.5 cm), Medium/Large (48 inches/122 cm), and X-Large (56 inches/142 cm). The garment features a finished length of 26½ to 27½ inches (67.5 to 70 cm) depending on size, making it a versatile piece suitable for various body types and styling preferences.

Knitting Techniques Used

This lace top employs several intermediate knitting techniques that create the delicate, openwork aesthetic characteristic of lace garments. The pattern incorporates increases to add stitches within rows, achieved by knitting into the front and back of a single stitch. The make one technique is used to add stitches more subtly by lifting the strand between stitches and knitting into the back loop, as well as a purl variation for adding stitches while maintaining pattern continuity.

Decreasing techniques are essential to the lace construction. The pattern uses slip, slip, knit (abbreviated as SSK) and slip, slip, purl methods, where two stitches are slipped knitwise or purlwise individually and then worked together to decrease one stitch. These decreases are often paired with yarn overs to create the characteristic holes and openwork of lace knitting.

The top is worked in the round using circular needles, which allows for seamless construction. The pattern includes stitch markers placed on the needle to help track pattern repeats and shaping sections. Slip stitch techniques are employed to pass stitches from the left-hand needle to the right-hand needle without working them, useful for edge finishing and pattern transitions. The pattern also uses pick up and knit methods to add stitches along edges, allowing for the integration of additional pattern elements or edgings.

Stitches and Stitch Patterns

The lace top is constructed using a charted lace pattern that combines knit and purl stitches with yarn overs and decreases to create openwork designs. The pattern includes no stitch notations on charts, indicated by shaded spaces where stitches have been decreased or not yet made; knitters skip over these spaces and work only the active stitches, allowing the pattern to expand and contract as needed for shaping.

Essential stitches include basic knit stitches (worked by inserting the needle as if to knit) and purl stitches (worked by inserting the needle as if to purl). Selvage stitches are used as edge stitches to facilitate seaming and create clean edges. The combination of these fundamental stitches with strategic increases, decreases, and yarn overs creates the lace pattern that defines the garment's aesthetic appeal and visual interest.

Materials and Tools

The Lace Top requires Noro Taiyo yarn in colorway #124. Yardage requirements vary by size: Small requires 4 skeins of 100-yard skeins, while Medium/Large also requires 4 skeins, and X-Large requires 5 skeins, providing sufficient yardage for the complete garment.

Two sizes of US circular needles measuring 32 inches long are needed: US 6/4mm and US 7/4.5mm, selected to obtain the correct gauge. The pattern also calls for stitch markers to track pattern repeats and shaping, and stitch holders to temporarily secure stitches during construction. The editor recommends using LYKKE® brand needles for optimal results.