Living in coastal Southern California, I always joke I hardly ever get to wear what I design. I love wool, wool blends, and alpaca, and most of my designs use those sorts of yarn.

However, I'm always thrilled to try out a new-to-me silk or linen yarn -- it's really nice to be able to actually wear what you knit, where you live!

Vera fit the bill.  I'd already used Breeze, Vera's laceweight sister, in my Bisbee blouse (paired with Oasis).  I wanted to incorporate some of the same elements of Bisbee into a summer top -- the slim intarsia lace panels, the button front, mixing two different weights of yarn, the subtle ruffle at the bottom edge.

For the Santa Cruz Cami, I stopped the lace panel partway up (to the armholes in the back, to the bust in the front) and used a Vikkel braid (tutorial here) to demarcate the different sections on both the back and front.

The neckline and shoulders went through multiple iterations, until I decided upon the scoop neck with broad straps. The pattern is written such that the armholes and neckline shaping starts at the same place, but you can make a less-deep neckline if you want!

I chose the same colorway for both Vera and Breeze, going for just subtle variation relying on the yarn weights rather than color, but the Santa Cruz Cami would be lovely worked with different colorways.