Ready for something fresh, light, frothy? Grove is that sweet lacy t-shirt, perfect for warmer days (read all about the design here). I shared the story of this summertime design in our last blog post and now I’m diving deep into the details, and sharing my best tips so you’ll love knitting Grove just as much as I did!
Yarn Choices
Self striping
When I made Grove, I used a subtly self-striping handspun yarn, alongside an uber-soft brushed lace yarn – Kumo, a suri alpaca yarn from La Bien Aimeé in the colourway Sansa.
Alexa has knit up a couple example swatches in Spincycle Dyed In The Wool, which would be a great yarn for this project.
On the left is Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Wild Horses with Ritual Dyes Fae in Forsythia . On the right is Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Dark Side with De Rerum Natura Berénice in Orgeat.
Solids and subtle hand-dyes
As soon as I finished this cute little sample for my daughter Neve, I wanted to explore more fabulous yarn and colour combinations that could make Grove sing! Here are a few combinations from my stash that I came up with.
On the left I’ve striped Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Sweetwater with Frankie Grey Fibers Majestic Fluff in Cantaloupe. In the centre I’ve striped Moondrake Co Fuwa Fuwa in Electric Orchid with Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Kyoto. On the right I’ve striped Moondrake Co Fuwa Fuwa in Electric Orchid with Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Light-Years. Note that Spincycle is a self striping yarn, but in these wee swatches it comes across more like a solid.
Speckles!
Alexa is working on a little Grove T for Raisie (her nibling) in a speckle, and I love the effect! She used a speckled sock yarn, and a suri in the same colourway (La Bien Aimée Sock and Kumo in Ponyo & Sosuke). I also did a swatch in Lily and Pine Dandelion Lace in Graffiti with Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Kyoto.
What about in a single colour?
Don’t love stripes? I get it, they’re not for everyone!
Grove would be lovely in a single colour too! But as you get started, you’ll notice that that while the stripes *look* the same, there are two subtly different ways the eyelet (lace) rows are worked. This is important, because it prevents the fabric from biasing. When knitting in two colours, it’s easy to know which row you are on. In a single colour, this is a little tricky. I suggest you go ahead and use a locking stitch marker (or a bit of waste yarn) to mark each pattern row 3 (this is the row with ssk eyelets).
On the left is a solid swatch in a self striping yarn, Spincycle Dyed in the Wool in Dark Side. On the right is a solid swatch in Hedgehog Fibers Sock in Avo.
How is Grove Constructed?
Why is this t-shirt knit in ROWS? Odd for a Tin Can Knits pattern, right? We usually design garments for knitting in the round, minimizing seaming! This fluffy floaty pattern called for seams though, because garter stitch back and forth is easy peasy! Grove is mostly garter stitch, with just a little eyelet lace thrown in; so 3 rows out of 4 are just knit! Knitting flat simply made for simplicity in this case.
Secondly, when I was planning the garment, I was thinking about how self-striping yarns look best when the rows you work aren’t *too* long. And an adult sweater body really has quite long rounds, when knit in the round. I had a suspicion my self-striping handspun (and many other self-striping yarns) would create more attractive stripes if worked over half the body dimension.
OK so let’s dive into the construction process itself, so it’s no mystery once you buy the pattern and cast on!
Grove is knit from the shoulders, down. You’ll knit the back first, and then the fronts (left front, then right front, until the front is joined into a single piece). Next the short sleeves are picked up and worked outwards.
After a wet block, the whole garment is folded at the shoulder, then seamed dow the underarm to the hem.
Buuuuutttt… I hate seaming
I get it; many knitters agree that seaming is not the very best part of the process of knitting garments! But Grove might be ‘just the right’ garment to make your first foray into mattress stitch, because it has clean edges and stripes that make matching things up really easy. PLUS there are only two simple straight edges to seam (one on each side!).
It’s easy! I promise!
Grove tshirt – a floaty, frothy delight!
The Grove tshirt pattern comes with:
📏 Sizes from newborn to adult 6XL
📱 Availability in the Tin Can Knits App (where you see JUST your size numbers)
Cast on with your FAV yarn right away! 🧶
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June 23, 2025 @ 9:25 pm
Hi Emily! Just wanted to mention that several of the links on the Grove t-shirt tips and swatches page are not working. Getting the 404 error message.
June 26, 2025 @ 12:03 pm
Hi Kellie – Thanks for letting us know, I’ve got it all fixed!