Stolen Silver Spoons, available on Ravelry and Ko-fi, is a form fitting crop top. But does that mean you have to knit a short version? I say no! And why stop at length?
Let's talk about different ways to modify Stolen Silver Spoons. We'll discuss length, sleeves, and even how to get more of the pretty lace detail.
Lengthening Your Garment
Let's start with the easiest mod: lengthening your garment. It is absolutely valid to ignore the length given in the pattern and continue to knit until you reach your desired length. That is the simplest way to modify Stolen Silver Spoons.
Juliane, Autumn, and Judith, pictured below, tested Stolen Silver Spoons. To modify their garments, they knit bust darts and simply added varying lengths to the body. If you like a more fitted sweater, then I'd highly suggest going this route!
Personally, I know I'd be uncomfortable with 0-1" of ease at my midsection (which is what will happen if you get gauge and knit straight down). If you're like me, you have a couple of options!
Option 1: Size up your garment. This will give you more ease everywhere, which means your FO will look different than the sample you see above. That's not necessarily a bad thing! Some of you may want a more relaxed fit. If that's the case, sizing up and continuing to knit the body of Stolen Silver Spoons until your desired length is the way to go. Check out the schematic below as a great starting point.
Option 2: Add body shaping. In my sample, I already added bust darts to my garment. This means that my garment can handle the small amount of ease and not ride up in the front. I'm currently knitting myself a second Stolen Silver Spoons, and this time, I'm adding length.
To get the same fit through the bust as my original sample while also getting ease where I want it, I'm adding increases along the side. I knit 4 inches beyond my bust darts, increased once on each side, then knit another 2 inches and increased again. I repeated the "2 inches and increase" pattern twice more.
"But wait - not all of us who want more length will want more ease - what if lengthening our garment adds ease where we don't want it?"
When adding length, our garments may hit a smaller spot on our bodies than the pattern intended. Or maybe we were in between sizes to begin with. In that case, decreasing may
be in order!
Zara's garment (pictured to the right) is a great example of this. Zara test knit Stolen Silver Spoons and decided to add length to the body. They then decided to decrease 2 inches before the ribbing to help the garment cinch in at the waist.
You can decide whether or not to modify your garment's length and how to approach your modification by looking at your own measurements, your desired measurements, and the full schematic.
Not sure how to best measure yourself? Check out this YouTube video (which I also link to in the pattern). It's a sewing resource, but the principles are the same!
The Sleeves
Stolen Silver Spoons is designed to have a slight balloon sleeve. If you'd prefer a different sleeve type, that's a simple modification as well!
You can either not decrease rapidly at the wrist and move straight to the ribbing (which will give you a loose sleeve at the wrist), you could omit the ribbing entirely and use an icord bind-off that goes with the neckline, or you can taper your sleeve by using one of these knitting calculators!
The Lace Detail
I don't know about you, but I love a good accent on a garment (obviously - I put the lace in the raglan here 😂). At least one of my testers loved the lace so much that they brought it all the way down the body of their garment.
You can do that, too! Simply ignore the instruction on page 26 that tells you to "Continue to work in stockinette stitch across the entire round, removing markers around the lace patterns." You can continue to work in stockinette, but leave the lace markers where they are and work the lace pattern as you normally would!
Please note: for those of us who need bust darts, making this mod will affect your instructions. Basically, the instructions will no longer be correct as the stitches the lace takes up were used to calculate the dart. You can always leave the lace in and recalculate your dart by using Patty Lyon's resource here, and I'm here for you if you'd like help with that!
Special Thanks to Stolen Silver Spoons Test Knitters <3
I want to take some time now to thank all of my testers, many of whom inspired these modifications. I'm always inspired by knitters who take my patterns and make them their own by modifying the pattern to suit them best. Thank you all so much for your hard work, Stolen Silver Spoons would be nothing without you!
Photo Credits (Instagram Handles):
@wildflower_magic
@zipsknits
@autumns_crafting_corner
@lunarpurl
@disyarning
@judesknitthis
@knudsenholly
@witch.hazel.knits
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