Amanda Knits

What do you get when you combine:
16 balls of sock yarn,
two months of time,
a dozen pairs of circular needles,
278,318 sts,
vintage knitting magazines,
the desire to knit something for your honeymoon,
and an encouraging friend?

The Stockholm Dress

Front View

Three-Quarters View

Side View

Back View

After knitting my purple skirt, I got some wild idea that I should knit a dress. This idea was encouraged by my knitting mentor (who makes me think I can do anything), Ida Riley Duncan's Knit to Fit book, vintage Vogue Knitting and McCall's magazines, and a husband who thinks like my mentor does. "Well, it is just math, and you are good knitter, so do it." (My husband does not knit.)

With help from Knitting Mentor, I chose to use Elann's Sock-It-To-Me in grey heather. I wanted to knit at a fine gauge because fine-gauge dresses and skirts look good, the nylon would prevent sagging, and the stable gauge would prevent seating out and bagging. I also bought Addi Turbos in sizes 0 and 1 in lengths ranging from 12" to 60". I ended up working up a gauge of 35 sts and 48 rows over 4" using the size 1 needles.

I case on provisionally for the waist and knit downward in the round on US size 1 needles, increasing at eight points around for the skirt. When it was about the right length I removed the provisional cast-on and knit the bodice in the round. I split the work and worked back and forth for the armholes and the v-necks (the front is a deeper v-neck whereas the back is a shallow v-neck). When the body was finished, I used three-needle bind-off for the shoulder seams. The sleeves and I had a battle. No matter which sort of sleeve shaping I used (and I used multiple resources to do the math!), I could not get a good looking cap. So instead I worked a set-in, top-down sleeve using short row shaping. I tried on the dress, which was now mostly complete, to determine the final length of the dress.

I finished the dress using hems. For the v-neck I picked up stitches using the size 1 needles, knit several rows, and switched to the size 0s. I worked a turning row and the inside rows on the smaller needle. I then tacked each stitch down by hand sewing it into place. I also worked hems on the sleeves and lower edge of the skirt, except I went into them straight from the body with no need to pick anything up.

As a final touch, I created an alphabet chart and duplicate stitched my name and 2009 into the inside hem of the skirt.

I started the dress on July 24th and finished the entire thing by September 24th. Perfect timing for an October honeymoon in Sweden!

Shoulder, Three-Needle Bind Off, Wrong Side

Sleeve, Picked Up Stitches, Wrong Side

Sleeve Hem, Wrong Side

V-Neck, Right Side

V-Neck, Wrong Side

Increases, Right Side

Increases, Wrong Side

Lower Hem, Right Side

Lower Hem Detailing, Wrong Side

Hiding From Rain

Hanging Out With Some Sheep in Visby, Gotland, Sweden

Awesome Husband
(Who Took All Of These Photos and Measured Me... Multiple Times)

My mother-in-law is Catholic, and in Korea Catholic women cover their heads. I made this for her. I'm going to give it to her next week when she arrives in America for the first time!

Here's my husband pretending to be his mother.

142,646 Stitch Skirt

This skirt came into being because I went shopping for some summer skirts/dresses and found none. Everything was too short or too long. Too clingy or too skin-tight. And everything was too thin! The fabric was entirely see through! Add to that the fact that the quality was low and that this thin fabric, low-quality trend is reaching across price points and stores...

Well, it was time to take matters into my own hands.

So I dug out 9 1/2 balls of Austermann Pharao in Dark Iris. I bought this back in September 2005 from Elann for $2.59 a ball. I knit with 2 and 2.5 mm needles (size 0 and 1 or 1 1/2 depending on how you convert!). Gauge was 9 sts to the inch. I used 1/2" elastic in the waistband.

I wanted a knit skirt with some interest, and I wanted something other than "stocking st on top, lace on bottom." So I found an eyelet pattern in one of the Walker Treasuries. I knit this from the top down and I know this yarn has a tendency to bias, so I knit it flat with a seam up the back.

Four weeks start to finish. Total cost under $30.

I did have some problems with the yarn. Some balls had odd pink spots on the outside of the ball. I'm not sure if this is why they were at Elann or if this was due to being stored in plastic? You can also see a band where the color seems off. I double checked. It's the same yarn color and lot number, and I took everything off the spool the same way, so it shouldn't be a nap error. However, I'm not fixing it!

And the name of the skirt? I kept track of how many sts it took to complete it: 142,646.

I love this. Love it. Perfect length. It can be dressed up, it can be dressed down, and as photographed it's completely appropriate for work. So much better than buying something in the store--even if it did take me a month to get what I wanted!

It Skims!

Perfect Length

Looks Good Moving

Pattern Detail

Hem Detail

Waistband Detail

You know you're working with tiny yarn when 20 rows only gets you an inch and a half.