Monoko tee is here 💠
I’m so happy to finally introduce you to the Monoko Tee, our very first project with real lace!
We’ve already had a little practice with openwork in the Nuance Tee, where we worked with a simple mesh pattern. But let’s be honest, mesh isn’t quite lace. 😊
And I think we’re ready to move forward.
🎁 Enjoy 50% off the Monoko Tee pattern (with a full video tutorial) using code (ONLY FOR ESENOTES SUBSCRIBERS) on Ravelry or my website.
Why I created the Monoko Tee
I don’t want us to knit only simple garments forever. I want to help you gradually explore new constructions and techniques, and take on the knitting challenges that once looked intimidating.
And this time, our next knitting adventure is lace.
Behind the scenes
I have to tell you, the Monoko Tee was probably one of my most energy-consuming designs. I started working on it back in March, and the original idea looked completely different.
I actually knitted almost an entire top several times before realizing that the stitch pattern I had chosen simply wasn’t going to work. The fabric became too thick, had almost no stretch, and eventually I had to let the whole idea go and start again.
That’s how I ended up with the lace sleeves.
And another challenge was to get the right fit without using complicated sleeve shaping techniques. I kept unraveling and unraveling, because I made a very conscious decision: one new challenge at a time. This time, I wanted us to concentrate on one thing: learning lace.
Design
I chose this little diamond pattern because it’s classic, pretty, and surprisingly manageable: only 8 stitches and 12 rows in one repeat. At first, those 12 rows may look like a lot to remember, but very quickly you start seeing the logic behind them. And we only repeat the full pattern 3 times.
I also kept the lace only on the sleeves for a reason. Lace mistakes do show, despite all those holes 😁, and unraveling lace is probably the least enjoyable part. A sleeve round is much shorter than a whole body round, so if we need to go back, we don’t lose half our knitting motivation with it.
And I added a plain stockinette sleeve option too. Maybe lace is simply not your thing right now. That’s completely fine. You can still finish your Monoko Tee and enjoy learning the drop shoulder construction.
I’ve already filmed the step-by-step tutorial, and this time I tried to anticipate every little lace problem I could think of. My test knitters helped me enormously with that, especially the brave beginners who managed to knit the lace from the written pattern alone.
I hope this inspires you to knit something you’ll truly love.
You’ll find all the details about the Monoko Tee on Ravelry and my website.
And I’ll see you on YouTube in the full tutorial ♥️
Warm regards,
Julia Piro
Knitwear Designer & Esenotes Curator
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