Poinsettia Fingerless Gloves

Fingerless gloves are my favorite accessory – and also my favorite piece to knit because they offer so many varieties of constructing them and – since they are relatively small – trying out ideas. 

The Poinsettia fingerless gloves are knitted flat and in garter stitch. They start with a provisional CO, are knitted flat and end with grafting. Finally the side seams have to be sewn together.

Since this is an intarsia project that also uses short rows, it can be quite fiddly. Therefore, it  is NOT a beginner pattern.

The knitting pattern for these fingerless gloves is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting (soon)

This pattern PDF is 13 pages long and contains 

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting a mitt in one size (slight adjustments can be made by using a different needle size)– including seven photos of the different stages  
• a pattern chart
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques that are needed to knit these mitts
• provisional CO with a crochet hook and how to undo it
• grafting in garter stitch
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps and an explanation on doubly wrapped stitches
• intarsia knitting 
• weaving in yarn while carrying it (backwards and forwards)
• crochet CO

To knit these mitts you need the following materials

• Fingering weight yarn in two colours – I used a total about 37 grams:
• about 24 grams (or about 100 metres) of C1 (grey in the title picture)
• about 13 grams (or about 55 metres) of C2 (rainbow colours in the title picture)
• 2.5 mm or 3 mm knitting needles (or another needle that gives you the gauge) – straight or circulars
• scrap yarn and a crochet hook (about 3mm) for the provisional CO and the crochet CO
• 2 stitch markers
• a tapestry needles for grafting and to weave in ends and for grafting

The instructions are for one size only. However, I knitted two pairs – one with 2.5 mm needles (top) and one with 3 mm needles (bottom) – the photo on the right shows each pair with one mitt already sewn up and one before that step:

• With 2.5 mm needles 28 ridges (56 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 25 sts gave 10 cm in width (with an unblocked swatch, since I didn't block the mitts). The finished piece knitted with 2.5 mm needles is about 17 cm high (at it's highest point) and about 15.5 cm in diameter (just below the thumb). 
• With 3 mm needles 26 ridges (53 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 23 sts gave 10 cm in width (also with  unblocked swatch). The piece measures about 18 cm in height and about 16 cm in diameter (just below the thumb).

In any case, the pieces are all in garter stitch, so they are quite stretchy.

Sinusoid Scarf

This scarf is constructed sideways from  tip to tip. It is knitted all in garter stitch and uses intarsia technique to create a wavy sinus curve edge with holes at the lower edge. Because of this construction, the length (wingspan) can easily be adapted.

The knitting pattern is available on

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Lovecrafts (soon)

The pattern PDF is 8 pages long and contains 

• written row-by-row instructions 
• pattern chart
• a short photo tutorial for intarsia knitting 
• a schematic and a short explanation of the construction

To knit this scarf you need the following materials

• Fingering weight yarn in two colors – I used a total about 600 metres (167 grams):
• about 120 metres (30 grams) of C1 (neon green in the pictures, I used madeline Tosh, Merino light, colorway Infrared Sky 455-O)
• about 480 metres (135 grams) of C2 (dark blue in the pictures, I used Wollmeise Pure 100% Merino Superwash )
• 3.25 knitting needles
• optional: removable stitch marker (to mark the beginning of one repeat), to make counting easier

Mitred MItts

Some designs take a million tries to get them right (e.g. the Partly Biased Fingerless Gloves I published earlier this year) and others just work at once. This design is of the latter category. I had the idea, drew a picture, tried it and voilà - it worked.

These fingerless gloves are knitted flat and in garter stitch stripes. They start with a provisional CO, is worked in short rows around the thumb and closed by grafting. The combination of stripes and short rows results in a striking geometrical pattern.

Since these mitts are worked with two colours and at times with very short short rows it can be quite fiddly. It is NOT a beginner pattern.

The knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting (soon)

The pattern PDF is 13 pages long and contains:

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting a mitt in one size only – including eight in-process photos 
• a full chart
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• provisional CO with a crochet hook and how to undo it
• grafting in garter stitch
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps and an explanation on doubly wrapped stitches
• weaving in yarn while carrying it (backwards and forwards)
• crochet CO

To knit these mitts you need the following materials:

• fingering weight yarn in two colors – I used a total about 35 to 40 grams: I used two (semi-)solid colored yarns with a good contrast (about 16 to 20 grams per color)
• 2.5 mm or 3 mm knitting needles (or another needle that gives you the gauge) – straight or circulars
• a crochet hook (about 3mm) and scrap yarn for the provisional CO and for the crochet CO
• 2 stitch markers 
• a tapestry needle for grafting and to weave in ends

The photo on the right shows two pairs that I knitted – one with 2.5 mm needles (top) and one with 3 mm needles (bottom); with one piece already sewn up and one before that step.

• With 2.5 mm needles 28 ridges (56 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 26 sts gave 10 cm in width (unblocked, since I didn't block the mitts). The finished piece is about 17 cm high (at it's highest point) and about 16 cm in diameter (without just below the thumb). 
• With 3 mm needles 25 ridges (50 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 24 sts gave 10 cm in width (also unblocked). The finished piece measures about 19 cm in height and about 18 cm in diameter (just below the thumb).

However, the pieces are all in garter stitch, so they are quite stretchy.

Summer Breeze Cowl

This colorful cowl is a light and airy accessory –  suitable for summer or early autumn. It looks especially good when knitted with variegated yarn because it shows off the short row construction.

This cowl knitted flat and all in garter stitch. It starts with a provisional cast-on, is knitted on a bias and with many short rows, and ends with grafting. Because of this construction the circumference is easily adaptable. 

It is a very repetitive pattern and only needs one 100 gram skein of lace weight yarn, so therefore it is a very portable project. However, you should be comfortable with short rows, binding off and casting on within a row, so it is not a beginner pattern.

The knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting 

The pattern PDF is 10 pages long and contains:

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting this piece – including 9 photos
• a schematic of the construction, i.e. how the diamonds stack up to create the whole piece
• charts of one diamond (in two variations)
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• provisional CO with a crochet hook and undoing it
• grafting in garter stitch
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps 
• crochet CO (at the edge of a knitted piece)
• backwards loop CO

To knit this cowl you need the following materials:

• about 500 metres of Lace weight yarn – I used less than 100 grams of Wollmeise Lace (colorway Allegria)
• 3 mm knitting needles (straight or circulars)
• a crochet hook of a similar size (I used a 3 mm hook)  
• scrap yarn
• a tapestry needle – for grafting and to weave in ends

Knitted in Lace weight yarn the finished and blocked piece measures 24 cm in width and 125 cm in circumference (unblocked it was 19 cm in width and 118 cm in circumference). About 24 stiches measured 10 cm in width and 24 garter stitch ridges (i.e. 48 rows) measured 10 cm in height (blocked).

Partly Biased Fingerless Gloves

I love knitted pieces with constructions that are a bit out of the ordinary. These fingerless gloves have a middle part knitted on a 45 degree angle. They are all in garter stitch and mainly knitted knitted flat (back and forth) – with the exception of the thumb.

They are a great way to show off variegated or self-striping yarn. Because the lengths of the rows vary, colour pooling is less probable.

The pattern PDF is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting 

The pattern PDF is 13 pages long and contains:

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting these gloves in one size – including twelve photos of the different stages (the finished piece (unstretched garter stitch) measures 17 cm in height, with a circumference of 15 cm at the top and 17 cm at the bottom)
• explanations how to adapt the pattern to other sizes
• explanations how to knit a variation of these pieces with  stockinette stitch in the middle
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• Magic CO
• kbf (a stitch symmetrical to a kfb)
• Three-Needle Bind Off
• German Short Rows and how to work the resulting “double-stitch”
• Picking up Stitches from a gap to avoid holes

You should be comfortable with using the magic loop technique to knit these pieces.

 

To knit these fingerless gloves, you need the following materials:

• About 150 meters of fingering weight yarn - 
• for the ones in the title picture I used Hedgehog Fibres, Skinny Singles, (colorway Goblin)
• for the ones with the contrast stripes, I used Lana Grosse Meilenweit Socktober (colorway 18314321, green), with Wollmeise Pure (dark blue) for the contrasting stripes
• for the ones with a stockinette part (see below) I used Supergarne Aktiv 4-fach (colorway 3358)
• 3mm circular knitting needles – at least 80 cm long
• 3 stitch markers – one of them removable
  

Harlequin Cowl

I like a cowl to sit as snugly as possible around my neck, but I also like it to warm my shoulders. That's why I designed this one, that starts wide (around the shoulder), but gets narrower at the top (around the neck). It is knitted in two-colour brioche in the round and bottom (shoulder) up.

This knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting 

The PDF for this knitting pattern is 12 pages long and contains:

• row-by-row pattern instructions
• photo tutorials for the brioche increases and decreases you need to knit this piece:
• brk2inc
• brkLdec
• brkRdec
• brk4inc
• brk4dec 
• a chart of the main pattern repeat

In order to knit this pattern you should know how to knit two-colour brioche.

Inside View

To knit this cowl you need the following materials:

• a total of about 500 metres of light fingering weight yarn in two contrasting colors
• 3.5mm knitting needle (I used a 60 cm one in the beginning and a 40 cm one in the end – however, you can use longer ones using the Magic Loop technique)
• a cable needle (alternatively, a removable stitch marker) for the brk4dec stitch
• 16 stitch markers – one of them (the end of round-marker) different from the others

The finished (and blocked) piece measures 44 cm in height. It's circumference is 95 cm on the bottom and 52 cm on the top (unstretched; stretched, i.e. for putting it on, you can get it as wide as 62 cm).

I had the following gauge: 21 stitches gave 10 cm in width and 24 rows gave 10 cm in height.

Brioche Intersections Scarf

I love two-colour brioche - it is a gorgeous technique because it creates a lovely, squishy texture that is comfortable to wear. Plus, it can be used to create quite intricate patterns.

This pattern is for a beautiful wide scarf – and uses a stitch where two brk-columns cross to create a pattern of Xs.

The knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry
• Loveknitting 
• Payhip

The pattern PDF is 16 pages long and contains

• row-by-row pattern instructions
• photo tutorials for the following brioche stitches
• brk2inc (two-stitch increase in brioche)
• brkLdec (left leaning two-stitch decrease in brioche) 
• brkRdec (right leaning two-stitch decrease in brioche) 
• brkX (combination of a two-stitch decrease and two-stitch increase in brioche - to create Xs)
• a schematic of the construction and the increase/decrease stitches

To knit a similar scarf you need the following materials

• a total of 310 grams of fingering weight yarn (i.e. about 155 grams of each color)– in two colours: I used two semi-solid yarns
• Wollmeise Pure (dark blue) 
• madelinetosh Tosh, Merino light, Frosty 470-O (very light mint)
• 3.25 mm knitting needles – straight with double points or circulars
• 2 stitch markers
• a tapestry needle for weaving in ends
  

The finished piece measures 155 cm in length and 42 cm in width (blocked).

As for gauge: in pattern 21 sts measured about 10 cm in width and 23 rows about 10 in height.

Railroad Crossing Fingerless Gloves

I love knitting fingerless gloves. They usually are a relatively small project, but they can have quite fun and interesting constructions. These ones are designed in triangles around the thumb. The design makes use of the garter stitch feature that one ridge has about the same width and height. The knitting directions changes a few times, so it is a great way to display some self striping sock yarn.

I called them Railroad Crossing Fingerless Gloves because the flat piece reminded me of the traffic sign.

 

The knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Lovecrafts
• Payhip

The pattern PDF is 20 pages long and contains 

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting this piece in one size only – including 19 in-process photos
• an explanation (plus schematic) of the construction,
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• crochet CO (at the edge of a knitted piece)
• kbf – knit through back and front of a stitch, a stitch that is symmetrical to a kfb
• german short rows (with double-stitches) and how to work the resulting double-stitches 
• pick up and knit 
• pick up and connect, i.e. picking up a stitch and connecting it in a 90 degree angle to your knitting

This is NOT a beginner pattern.

Size and Gauge

To get a certain variation in size I knitted not only in 3mm needles (see picture on the right, top pair of mitts), but also one pair with 2.5 mm needles (see picture on the right, bottom pair of mitts):

• With 3 mm needles 26 ridges (53 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 23 sts gave 10 cm in width (with an unblocked swatch, since I didn't block the mitts). The finished piece measures 19 cm in height, with a circumference of 15.5 cm at the top and 19 cm at the bottom.
• With 2.5 mm needles  28 ridges (56 garter stitch rows) gave me 10 cm in height and 25 sts gave 10 cm in width (also with  unblocked swatch). The finished piece measures 16.5 cm in height, with a circumference of 14.5 cm at the top and 17 cm at the bottom.

To knit these fingerless gloves you need the following materials

• 150 meters of fingering weight yarn weight yarn 
• the pink-yellow ones (title picture) are knitted in Sockenwolle 4-fach Citron by Daniela's Wolltopf (colorway Neolino) - here's a link to the yarn's Ravelry page
• the green/brown/azure blue ones (smaller ones in picture displaying the different sizes) are knitted in Regia 4-ply (Regia Spring Fling Color, colorway 3812) 
• the sky blue/light green ones with a bit of red and purple (see picture showing different views below) in knitted with Zwerger Opal Gutenachtgeschichten 4-ply (colorway Das Mädchen und der Blumendrache) - here's a link to the yarn's Ravelry page
• 3 mm knitting needles – I used 80 cm circulars as main needles to knit the thumb
• two additional 3mm knitting needles – I used dpns to knit the panels around the thumb
• a crochet hook that is a bit bigger than the knitting needles (I used a 4 mm hook) 
• a tapestry needle – for grafting and to weave in ends

Different views (left: before sewing up, middle: back of hand, right: palm)

Rail Fence Fingerless Gloves

The inspiration for these mitts comes from a quilt pattern I saw on social media. I asked myself whether it would be possible to arrange similar panels around the thumb to created a pair of fingerless gloves. After a few tries, it worked. In fact, you could actually view it as one big entrelac piece around a thumb.

The name of quilt pattern that first inspired me is Rail Fence. However, the similarity is only visible if you look at the an unseamed mitt laid out flat. Because of the changes in knitting direction, this is a great way to showcase your self-striping yarn. 

This knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting 

The pattern PDF is 14 pages long and contains

• written row-by-row instructions for knitting this piece in one size only – including 15 in-process photos
• an explanation (plus schematic) of the construction, and explanations how to make them bigger or smaller
• short photo tutorials for the following techniques
• crochet CO (at the edge of a knitted piece)
• kbf – knit through back and front of a stitch, a stitch that is symmetrical to a kfb
• short rows with wrap and turn and picking up the wraps
• pick up and knit, pick up and purl
• pick up and connect, i.e. picking up a stitch and connecting it in a 90 degree angle to your knitting

The finished piece measures 17 cm in height and about 17 cm in circumference (top and bottom and about a cm more at its widest point. The picture on the right shows one finished mitt and one just before sewing up the side seams.

As to gauge, in garter stitch 12 stitches gave 5 cm in width, and 12 ridges (24 rows) 5 cm in height – this was measured on an unblocked piece.

To knit these mitts you need the following materials:

• 130 meters of fingering weight yarn weight yarn - I used self-striping:
• for the ones in the title picture I used Zwerger Opal Rainforest, Colorway 9902
• the pair on the pictures below was knitted with Zwerger Opal Blütenpracht, Colorway 54, Mohn Poppy
• 3 mm knitting needles – I used 80 cm circulars as main needles
• two additional 3mm knitting needles – I used dpns
• a crochet hook that is a bit bigger than the knitting needles (I used a 4 mm hook)  
• a tapestry needle – for grafting and to weave in ends
  

Herbstlaub

Two-colour brioche is a marvellous technique. It creates a lovely, squishy texture that is comforable to wear and it can be used to create quite intricate patterns – in case of this scarf irregular leaves, like the ones falling in autumn. (“Herbstlaub” is the german word for autumn leaves.)

The middle stripe effect is created by switching the dominant color in the middle of a row.

This knitting pattern is available via

• Ravelry 
• Payhip
• Loveknitting 

The pattern PDF is 14 pages long and contains

• row-by-row pattern instructions
• a schematic and a description of the pattern idea
• photo tutorials for the following brioche stitches
• brk4inc
• brkLdec
• brkRdec

In order to knit this pattern you should know how to knit two-colour brioche.

To knit a scarf like this you need the following materials:

• a total of 1000 metres of fingering weight yarn – in two colours; for two-color brioche I prefer (semi-)solid colors
  I used Wollmeise Pure Merino Superwash, two skeins (150grams each)
• 3.25 mm knitting needles – straight with double points or circulars
• 2 stitch markers
• a tapestry needle for weaving in ends

The finished piece measures 150 cm in length and 30 cm in width (unblocked) – and 160 cm in length and 35 in width (blocked). 

Sæbebobler - Seifenblasen Lace Scarf in Danish

Marianne Holmen from strikkeglad.dk has written another Danish translation of one of my free knitting patterns. This time for my Seifenblasen Lace Scarf. Mange tak!

Here's the link to the Danish version.
And here's the original English version.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

 

A list of all translated versions of my patterns can be found in this blogpost.

Art Deco Top

One of my favorite TV programs is the Great British Sewing Bee. It's not only very "feel-good" program with lovely contestants, it's also quite inspirational and also provides background information about the history of clothing. So when I saw episode 4 of season 7 of the Great British Sewing Bee (the  year before last) where the contestants had to sew a made to measure inspired by Frida Kahlo and especially the huipils that some of their designs were based on, I wanted to make something similar in knitting.

Even though the inspiration came (in a very roundabout manner) from Frida Kahlo and mexican Huipil garments, my finished top didn't look like it at all. And when somebody on Instagram said the top reminded them of Art Deco patterns, I loved it and it stuck as a name.

This is a boxy top with a round neckline, short sleeves and side slits at the bottom edge. It is started with a magic CO in the middle and knitted outwards to the side and bottom seams.

As with many of my sweater/top "patterns", this is NOT a row-by-row pattern for various sizes, but rather a rough recipe of the ideas behind the construction of this garment. I will give the numbers I used for myself as an example in purple.

This work by Knitting and so on is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Materials

• yarn: I used a total of 300 grams of Sports weight yarn, the purple yarn was from my first attempt of my Garter Stitch Summer top - that eventually got frogged, the orange yarn was leftovers from my Eifel Cowl - I can imagine that it would also look nice to knit the whole top in one variegated yarn
• knitting needles: I used 3.5mm  circulars, (three pairs of circular needles, in the when front or back piece got big enough - one for each of the three edges)
• a crochet hook of about the same size - for a crochet CO and for crocheting the neckline edge 
• scrap yarn - as a stitch holder
• stitch markers
• a tapestry needle to weave in ends

Techniques & Definitions

• Judy's Magic Cast-On is a technique that gives you live stitches on both sides of your needle - it is generally used for toe-up socks, but it can be used for other purposes as well. Here's a written description (from Knitty) and here's a YouTube-video by Cat Bordhi and another YouTube-video by Very Pink Knits. 
• Pick up and knit: Picking up stitches from the side edge of your work as shown in this YouTube video by B.Hooked Crochet & Knitting
• kfb: increasing by one stitch - by knitting into the front and back leg of a stitch; it is shown in this YouTube video by Knit Purl Hunter
• kbf: a stitch that is symmetrical to a kfb; e.g. shown in this YouTube-video by Roxanne Richardson: https://youtu.be/OJMya9xaol4  (it's perfectly possible to do a kfb instead, I just prefered the symmetrical look for my stripe pattern)
• Crochet CO: shown in this YouTube video by Knit Purl Hunter
• Reverse Single Crochet (Crab Stitch): a crochet stitch that makes for a lovely edging - shown in this YouTube video by Tamara Kelly - Moogly
• One garter stitch ridge equals two rows of garter stitch

Measuring, Calculating & Construction

The whole top has a boxy construction - based on a rectangles - that may not be the most flattering shape. If you want more shaping you could add short rows (maybe an underarm wedge) - however, this is not described here. Ideas to change the shape and dimensions of the piece can be found below in section "Other sizes".

Schematic - click on picture to enlarge

The top is constructed as follows:

• each part (front & back) starts in the middle of the neckline with a magic CO;
• then you will knit in an angled U-shape around this CO, with increases at the corners that form a rectangular pattern), if you knit according to the instructions, you will add five ridges to the length for each four ridges to the width on each side, i.e. the piece grows downwards and sideways;
• meanwhile at the upper edge (neckline) you add increases to shape the rounded neckline - until you've reached the desired shoulder height; these neckline increases are different for front and back (the front neckline is deeper than the one in the back);
• once you've reached the desired width, you only work on the lower edge to add length, the stitches on the sides are put on stitch holders (scrap yarn)
• when you've finished front and back piece, you sew up the shoulder seams
• for the arms, you pick up the required number of stitches around the shoulder seams (one half from the side seam of the back piece, the other half from the front piece) and knit them in rows
• the sides are seamed up by holding rights sides together and doing a three needle BO
• finally, the underarm seams and shoulder seans need to be sewn up

The picture below shows the measurements that you need to take.

Measurements - click on picture to enlarge

A = neck width
B = shoulder width
C = width of the piece (= A + 2xB)
D_front = neck depth front 
D_back = neck depth back
E_front = length of magic CO front 
E_back = length of magic CO depth back
to get the same overall shape for front and back piece, the front neck depth plus the front CO must equal the back neck depth plus the back CO (D_front + E_front  =  D_back +  E_back)
F = length of main piece (front & back)
G = additional length
H = shoulder to underarm (or half of the arm circumference at the top)
I = arm length

Knitted in garter stitch my yarn/needles combination gave 

• 10 cm in height for 22 ridges (44 rows) and 
• 10 cm in width for 22 sts.

My desired measurements were

A =  about 21 cm, i.e. 45 ridges (i.e. 1 ridge for the magic CO plus 22 on each side, 22x2 + 1)
B =  about 14,5 cm, i.e. 29 ridges
C = 50 cm ( = 2x14,5 + 21)
D_front = 12 cm, i.e. 25 sts
D_back = 4.5 cm, i.e. 11 sts 
E_front = 7.5 cm, i.e. 18 sts
E_back = 15 cm, i.e. 33 sts 
F = 49 cm
G = 4 cm
H  = 21 cm , i.e. 46 sts
I = about 6.5 cm, i.e. 14 ridges

Even though you can adapt the size while knitting, I strongly suggest that you knit a swatch before starting, so that you have a rough idea of the number of stitches necessary (at least for the CO). 

Because of the construction (and the rate the piece grows), I would advise to do choose the magic CO to a length that D_front + E_front  make up for about 40% of the overall length of the piece (that's the distance from the shoulder seams to the lower edge of the magic CO). This aims for C and F being roughly equal.

Another important issue: Make sure to take notes while you're knitting your pieces so that you can reconstruct it later, i.e. so that the back matches the front or the left sleeve matches the right.

Instructions

While you're knitting the main stripe pattern, you will at the same time have to increase along the neckline. Since - depending on your yarn weight and desired size - these issues need to be addressed separately, they are explained separately below. 

Front - Main stripe pattern

You start knitting in the middle of the neckline. I wanted a rounded, wide(-ish) neck and about 12 cm deep. So I "started" the mCO in the knowledge that there would be 25 sts to increase to shape the neckline.

In MC do a magic CO so that there is one stitch more on the top than on the bottom needle (the additional stitch will make up the horizontal line of the pattern (see picture 1, the top needle has one more stitch than the bottom one).

I did a magic CO of 2x18+1 sts (i.e. after the neck increases are added the lower edge of the magic CO is 18 + 25 = 43 sts away from the shoulder seam)

Turn the needle so that you look at the garter stitch bumps (see picture 2), the needle with the additional stitch is still on top, however, the last stitch is not secured. Therefore, before you start knitting twist tail and working yarn once to secure the first stitch of the row (see picture 3). 

In MC

Ridge 1: (RS) top needle, ktbl to last stitch on top needle, kfb, switch to bottom needle, k1, kbf, k to end
    (WS): k to 2 bef end of needle, pm, k2, switch to other needle, k1, pm, k to end

In case of my magic CO this was:
Ridge 1: (RS) ktbl 17, kfb, k1, kbf, k17, turn
    (WS) k18, pm, k3, pm, k18

Ridge 2: (RS) k all, turn
    (WS) k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to end

In CC

Ridge 3 (RS): k all, turn
    (WS) k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to end

in MC

Ridge 4: (RS) k all, turn
    (WS) k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to end
Ridge 5: (RS) k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to end, turn
    (WS) k to m, sm, k to m, turn; (RS) k to m, turn (WS) k to m, sm, pick up one stitch from edge, k to end

Pictures 4 to 6 illustrate how to pick up a stitch in the middle of a row. When knitting row 10 after you've turn for the second time and knitted up to the next marker you find a (short) edge (one ridge high) from which you have to pick up one stitch (see pointer in picture 4). You then insert the needle into that stitch (picture 5) and draw a loop of your working yarn through (picture 6).

The pictures also show that after a few ridges, I put the stitches between the markers (vertical part of the stripe pattern) on another needle. That way the piece is not distorted by being bunched up on two needles only. As the piece grew bigger I switched to 3 sets of circulars - one for each edge. (The "end of needle" did the job of the stitch marker.)

in CC

Ridge 6: (RS) k to m, sm, k to m, sm, pick up one stitch from edge, k to end, turn
    (WS: k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to 1 bef m, kfb, sm, kbf, k to end

Repeat ridges 4 to 6 until the colored panel is as big as you want it.
Then continue repeating ridges 4 to 6 in MC only.

(It theory, you could do the increases (kfb/kbf) always on RS. The reason I alternated is that it looked better with the stripe pattern, i.e. if you do a kfb in the first row after a color change, you see a little bump of the color below and I wanted to avoid that.)

I knitted 12 repeats, i.e. I knitted 12 CC stripes. Than I added 5 more repeats in MC only.

Front - neckline shaping

WHILE you're knitting the main stripe pattern, you need to increase at the beginning and end of some rows to shape the neckline. Since I wanted a rounded neckline, I started with few increases, raising their number towards the outer edge of the neckline. 

I would advise that - once you calculated the width and height of your neckline - draft the desired shape on graph paper and do your increases accordingly.

The picture below shows the left half of the front neckline and how I distributed the increases - starting from the magic CO.

Neckline Shaping - click on picture to enlarge

Increase in the beginning and end of one row means that I did a kfb at the second and the second to last stitch, i.e.: 
    k1, kfb (instructions for this row until 1 bef end), kfb, k1

At last ridge I did a crochet CO of 9 stitches at the beginning and the end of the row.

Finishing the front piece

If your piece isn't long enough, knit a few more ridges using the stitches of the lower edge.
I lenghtened both pieces by 6 ridges (12 rows) before binding off.

Put the stitches of the side edges on scrap yarn.

Your last row is a WS row.

Back

The back piece is knit similar to the front piece EXCEPT that

• the original magic CO is longer because the back neckline is shallower
• the neckline increases are different

For my piece I wanted a neck depths of 10 sts, therefore I did a magic CO of 2x33 + 1 stitches (i.e. the total distance from the lower edge of the magic CO to the shoulder seam is 33 + 10 = 43 sts - the same as for the front piece.

The picture below shows one half of the back neckline - starting from the magic CO, i.e. the distribution of the back neck increases.

Lengthen the back (knitting rows over the stitches of the lower edge) by the same amount of rows as you did with your front piece.

Put the stitches of the side edges on scrap yarn. 

Your last row is a WS row.

Sleeves

Calculate how many stitches you need for your sleeves. 

For my arms I needed 2x46 sts. So I slipped the calculated number of the uppermost stitches of the right hand side of the front piece (starting from the 46th stitch) and the same number of the uppermost stitches of the right hand side of the back piece (starting from the shoulder) on a back.

Starting on RS of the piece, knit the required number of  rows to reach your desired sleeve length.

Do the same for the other sleeve.

I knitted just very short sleeves, i.e. only 14 ridges per arm before BO.

Finishing

With right sides together, put the left side stitches of front and back pieces from your scrap yarn on knitting needles and do a three needle BO (in my case it was 2 x 59 sts). Do the same with the right side stitches. That does not connect the additional (lengthening) rows you did at the end of the piece - which achieves a nice seam slit effect.

Sew up the open arm seams (underarm).

Sew up the shoulder seams.

If you like, add a crochet border to the neckline; I used the reverse single crochet stitches (also known as crab stitch). 

Weave in all ends.

Other Sizes

In order to adapt this top to other shapes (i.e. other than the square main piece described above) you could for example do the following:

• Start with a longer (shorter) magic CO to get a narrower (wider) rectangular main piece.
• Knit underarm short row triangles (before knitting the sleeves) to shape the piece around the bust; with the wide part on the top right under the arm; then - when starting the sleeves; when you start to knit your sleeves you need to start in the middle of the upper edge of that triangle by picking up stitches from the edge then knit the first row of the sleeve and then picking up stitches from the second half of the short row triangle edge. 
• Knit darts by inserting decreases at breast height towards the last rows of the piece - equally on both vertical edges of the front piece. To make them less obvious, I would start them after finishing the stripe pattern. To make both pieces (front and back) the same underarm length, you need to adapt (decrase) the magic CO of the back piece by decreasing it accordingly, i.e. if there are 5 darts decreases on each edge of the front piece, the magic CO of the back piece needs to be 5 sts shorter.