The eat cake sweater is one of my favorite designs but wool doesn’t make for the best summer garment. Change the yarn and you have the summer edition of the Eat Cake Sweater.
Inspiration
The eat cake sweater is honestly one of my favorite designs. I just love how the original design came together. However, it’s not my ideal warm weather garment. Which is why I decided to crochet a summer edition of the eat cake sweater. Also, an insta friend approached me about a CAL and I really wanted to work another version with the CAL group.
Honestly, I’m very excited about this edition as well. It looks like a quirky blueberry cake. Most importantly it’s all stash, and repurposed yarn!
The Yarn Summer Edition
As I mentioned, my plentiful stash is behind the creation of this blueberry masterpiece. I really wanted to work with a linen blend again, but didn’t really have enough of any color to make a garment. Until I looked at my closet…
Every once in a while I get the urge to purge my closet of clothes I don’t really use. Yes, even my crochet creations suffer through this curation. Although, they don’t get frogged until I have use for them.
Anyway, we are getting off track.
I repurposed the mineral blue yarn from the Egyptian inspired top I had designed. Even though I think I did a good job bringing my vision to life, It just wasn’t my style.
The yarn is Universal Lina a linen cotton blend (68/32%). At 252 yds per 100g, it is notably heavier than the hawthorne fingering but still workable with a 4mm hook. As is typical with me, I didn’t have enough of the mineral blue yarn to complete the entirety of the sweater.
Luckily I still had a hank left from the Daisy yarn from Knit one Crochet too. I actually don’t think I’ve shown you what I made with this yarn. But you can see it in Yarn Matters . While Daisy has a linen content (38%) the feel of it differs greatly from the Lina Yarn. Notably because of the silk (32%) and hemp (30%)
I say these yarns were perfect for a summer edition.
Daisy vs Lina
I’m going to start by saying that these yarns are very different blends and thickness. While the Daisy yarn only has 20 more yds than Lina, it is much thinner. This resulted in a looser and less dense fabric. The daisy portion of the fabric also stretched more than the lina, both width-wise but also lengthwise.
Changes to the Summer Edition of the Eat Cake Sweater.
Overall, I followed the pattern, but I did make a couple of changes for this summer edition.
Because I changed the yarn, and linen is known to stretch with use, I made the xs size. Good thing too, it stretched from 29″ around the bust to 41″. Yes, a whopping 11″ of positive ease. Scared me too.
Not only did the sweater stretch width wise, but it also stretched 2″ lengthwise. Another change to keep in mind is that I combined yarns for this summer version. The Daisy yarn actually stretched more than the Lina yarn causing an asymmetrical look. Although not accounted for, off-kilter edge in the patina color is my favorite part of this sweater.
Notice that I only used the Daisy yarn to complete the last section on one side.
Sleeve Section
Other than the yarn, the most notable change are the sleeves. I shortened the sleeves from 16″ to 4″. Yes, a significant difference but they fall half-way to my elbow.
I crocheted 15 rows for the sleeve and finished off with 1 row of squished sc.
As you can see, other than the yarn I didn’t change much. But as we’ve previously discussed, just changing the yarn can create a whole different look. After all, xs with a linen yarn will fit a 38″ chest comfortably.
Final thoughts? I absolutely love both versions of this sweater! I love them so much that I even made a reel to the song Killer queen. 😀
