Finished: Saturday In The Park Perfect Dress

Pattern: Saturday In The Park Perfect Dress from Fitted Knits by Stefanie JapelKnits
Yarn: Filosoft by Wolle Rödel, 52 % merino, 48 % cotton, handwash at 30 °C, recommended needle size 4 -5 mm, recommended gauge 22 st x 28 rows = 10 cm
Color: red (1205)
Price: €3,75 per 50 g ball?
Amount: 12 (one was needed for swatching)
Needles: 3.5 mm
Gauge: 24 st x 32 rows = 10 cm in stockinette and mock lace cable pattern. On the label the recommended gauge is 22 st x 28 rows, but I was afraid that the dress would sag at the bottom if it was knit too loosely and I tend to like my knitting to be a bit tighter than what is usually recommended on the label.
Dimensions: I measured myself and calculated the amount of stitches that was necessary to make the dress fit. The dress has negative ease (a couple of cm).
Modifications:

20/06/2009
Cast on 242 stitches. I’m doing it top up. This top down raglan thing according to my calculations is not working out for me.

After the hem pattern decreased by 2 stitches = 240.

Divided them into sections of 20 stitches. Alternating sections with stockinette stitch with mock cable pattern.

After 18 rows: decrease 2 stitches in each stockinette sections: k5, k2tog, k6, ssk, k5
6 x 2 stitches => 228 stitches

After 24 rows: decrease 2 stitches in each stockinette sections: k5, k2tog, k4, ssk, k5
6 x 2 stitches => 216 stitches

After 24 rows: decrease in the mock cable sections:
p1, cable, p2tog, cable, p2, cable, p2tog, cable, p1
6 x 2 stitches => 204 stitches

After 12 rows: decrease in the mock cable sections:
p1, cable, p1, cable, p2tog, cable, p1, cable, p1
6 x 1 stitch => 198 stitches

From hip to waist: 20 cm = 64 rows

After 12 rows: - 18 st: => 180 st

* Two decreases in each of the stockinette sections: 6 x 2 st decreases = -12 st
* 3 x 1 purl st dec in the mock cable section = - 6 st

I wanted the stitches to be a multiple of 5, because of the pattern.

I now repeated the hem pattern for the hip section. I got the idea from Monikita:
http://www.ravelry.com/projects/Monikita/saturday-in-the-...

After 9 rows: - 10 st => 170 st
Decreases are worked on the sides. That creates the least disruption of the pattern. And I guess, that’s just what you do? From now on, decreases and increases are worked on the side

After 9 rows: - 10 st => 160 st
After 8 rows: - 10 st => 150 st
After 9 rows: - 4 st => 146 st
* On the side: ssk, k3, k2tog
150 st /2 = 75 st. This means my center on both sides was not between two stitches, but on a stitch.

I think it should have been between two stitches, but anyway, trying to distribute the decreases nicely was tricky enough.

After 9 rows: - 4 st => 142 st
After 9 rows: - 4 st => 138 st

After the hip section I added a central cable section (30 st wide).

Now I started increasing.
9 times every 7th row 4 increases => 174 st

On row 49 I added short rows. There supposed to start like 1-2 inches from the armhole and end 1 inch from the bust point. So, I made 4 short rows, 3 stitches apart. Starting 5 stitches from center stitch on the side. Ending 11 stitches from the center cable section. I find the short rows look a bit weird, ending above my bust point?

Armhole shaping:
I now had to separate into back and front and decided that the center stitches on the side would be added to the front.

Decreases for the back and front: 3-2-2-

Neckline:
At the same time, after 4 rows (counting from where I separated the sleeves) I bound off the central cable section.

Sleeves:
Cast on 70 st. Added cables. Increased 2 st. => 72 st Knit two rows. Decrease 3-2-2 on both sides.

Connecting sleeves and body part:
Use two circular needles, one for the front and halves of the sleeves. The other one for the back and the other halves of the sleeves. Knit 4 rows. Decrease in front and back. Two stitches between the decreases.

19/07/2009
Picked up 3 stitches for every 4 stitches in the front and back and 3 stitches for every 5 rows. Neckline is a bit different. I didn’t turn at the purl line and instead just let it curl. It’s nicer and stretchier that way. Folding at the hem was good, but at the neckline it looked ugly. Did the same for the sleeves. I think the raglan sleeves do make my shoulders look a bit bigger.

Comments:
I'm happy with the dress.

By the way, I just hate that my blog looks so messed up. And it's so much work customizing a new template.

Finished: Dress 09 from Rebecca no. 35

Pattern: 09 grey dress from Rebecca #35
Yarn: "Cumba" by ggh, 42 % virgin wool, 28 % alpaca and 30 % acrylic(150 m/ 50 g)
Color: natural white
Price: € 3.95 per ball (that's the offical price for the yarn, but it's been a while since I bought it, so I'm not sure what I paid then. I bought it at Lanaiolo, the same yarn shop where I bought the yarn for the orange dress, also a design from Rebecca. Did I mention that I got the magazine for free when I bought the yarn for the orange dress? :) (I think I got it for free?) )
Amount: theoretically you need 9 balls, but of course I'm so talented that I only needed 7, ha! I say it's 7, because I'm counting 2 balls that are left, but there could be more somewhere else. I had to start one ball to do the neck, but I didn't need a lot.
Needles: 3.75 mm I wish I could say I'm a 100 % sure that it was this size, but sorry, I've been really really tired for a couple of weeks and I think it's taking a toll on my memory. By excluding other potential needle sizes I've come to the conclusion that it's very likely that one. By the way, recommended needle size is 4-5 mm.
Gauge: well, something completely different!!!!
Dimensions: size 34/36, theoretically
Modifications: Many! I started knitting this dress last year, thinking it was going to be a nice mindless project since I bought the original yarn, meaning no re-calculations, you just swatch until you find the right needle and then off you go. That was the plan. I made a swatch and then left it at some place where I couldn't find it anymore. I remembered that the gauge was correct though.

I started knitting the skirt part, which seems so easy but I can't remember how many times I ripped back. It was too short, too long, then I decided that the waistline of the original dress was too high up. I'm not really a fan of baby doll dresses and less if they are knitted. This also meant that that the skirt part was too long again!!!! The good thing is, the yarn endured all the ripping back patiently. You can rip back as much as you want and it's going to be fine. At the end of the skirt part, you do some decreases, which I did, but I also added about 10 rows more instead of continuing with the bodice part, because I was afraid that the skirt would look too puffy and I wanted it to taper off slowly.

The next step after deciding on the length of the skirt and the position of the waistline I proceeded with the bodice part. I must confess that I also derived a lot of pleasure from knitting this - ha, ha, ha! After a couple of cms people started making comments about the smallness of the dress. My initial unwavering optimism deflected any kind of doubt, but after a while it cracked down and I had to admit that it did look indeed small. Which meant - I had to swatch. My new swatch told me that the size was indeed good enough for my waist, but would cause problems later on. The bodice part is knit straight, there is no shapping, which usually would be ok as the pattern is very stretchy, but in my case I had to do work in some increases. I tried short rows, but the pattern is very ungrateful for that kind of thing, so I just increased on both sides until I had the same number of stitches as for the next size 38/40. My swatch told me that it would be ok if I did so, but I think I was just wishing that life be easier, meaning if I didn't have to think too much and just follow the instructions. If it couldn't be the instructions for size 34/36 it could at least be the instructions for size 38/40, right?

Anyway, I also decided that the neckline was too high and I wanted the shoulders to be less wide. I made the decreases and hoped they would look fine. For the neckband, I picked up stitches from every second bindoff stitch and row. I assumed that the pattern would stretch a lot.

The sleeves were knit without any modifications. Halleluja! :D

Comments: It's tight around the bust. I wasn't sure if it was still ok or just wishful thinking. I decided to be brave (also because the friend that I called to check the dress was already at the knitting group) and just go to the knitting group. Thankfully, my friends liked it. If not, I would still not have ripped back!

After blocking it looked a little bit off. I just wanted to finish the damn thing and did not take great care with the blocking, so the edge of the skirt were scalloped and very uneven in height. Strangely, I wasn't much concerned about that. I thought I would give it a good washing and then it would shrink back. And of course, I was right. :D In the end, you can block as much as you want, but there is a limit. And I think, I was also lucky with the yarn.

The yarn is nice and soft. And it seems to be robust. I really liked that you could rip back so much and it still looked fine. I recommend it.



Oh, I forgot to tell. The next day, after I finished my dress, I was doing some cleaning up of my stash and other knitting stuff and I found my swatch! The small one is my second swatch and as you can see, the gauge is completely different. I have no clue what happened. Maybe I used a different needle size for the first swatch. It's possible that I knit the skirt part with a smaller needle and then wanted to switch to a bigger needle. The other explanation would that my knitting is very moody - sometimes I knit tight and sometimes I knit loose - but that strikes me as a very strange explanation.

I think next time I would either add more repeats to make it wider or go up a needle size. I tend to going up a needle size, because I actually like the first swatch it is softer and the stitches don't look so tense.


By the way, I just realized that a couple of images from the blog template are missing!! Grrrrr...

Mittens and a wrinkled dress

I finished the "Summersplash" yarn and I'm quite happy with it. I just don't know what to knit with it? Another Morning Surf Scarf? I don't have one, but maybe I can find something else that goes well with the yarn, too.


Currently I'm working on two items - fair isle mittens and a winter dress.

This is the first fair isle project I'm doing (apart from playing around with swatches here or there) and I'm quite pleased with my tension. The back part with the spirals puckers a bit, but the palm side is quite nice.

The dress might have been finished already if I wasn't ripping back so much. It's not difficult to knit, but I continue to make modifications, which I don't like, but I think I now found a good solution.

When I took the picture I realized how wrinkled the dress looks. I guess, when I knit something I don't really care too much how it looks. I stuff my projects in plastic bags and that shows. But washing and blocking will take all your tears away, so why bother.