Crocheted Dress

Maisie in crocheted dress
Originally uploaded by lydia eden

I found this cutie-pantz fabric in the remnant bin ages ago, and I've been hanging on to it, thinking it should be something for Maisie.

Mom's been talking about sun dresses with crocheted yokes and cloth skirts. I finally decided to try one, even though 1) I didn't have anything like a pattern and 2) basically everything I know about crocheting it made up out of my head with no instruction. My mom gave me a granny square lesson once, but I know nothing about reading/writing crochet instructions. But I thought, if I put some stitches together, and if the number of stitches divides by six, surely I can pretend they are hexagons and sew them together. And I think it worked amazingly well, considering.

Maisie
Originally uploaded by lydia eden

One great thing about living with a three-year-old is this: everything looks cute on her. This sweater, which began life as a theory about an argyle vest, is lumpy and awkward, and the line where I picked up stitches to knit the body sort of reminds me of a surgery scar. But put it on Maisie, and Voila! Cute as buttons!



[Note: the movie in the background is Follow the Fleet, which she watches just about every day. When she gets to this scene, where Fred Astaire is wearing dress whites and singing "I'd Rather Lead the Band" she runs to the TV, points to him, and says, "That's the one I like! Fred Astaire!"]

The left arm was originally the front of the planned sweater vest, and you can see the argyle-ish diamonds there. I quite like how the stripes on the right arm turned out -- they were loosely inspired by one of several pretty awesome homemade Weasley sweaters in the newest Harry Potter movie. I think Ron is wearing it during a scene in the tavern (at Hog's Head? They might be spying on Ginny?)

Pattern Notes...

Yarn: worsted weight, washable wool, in spring green, teal, and a shade of pinkish red that might have been called persimmon. (I bought these at In a Yarn Basket, and as usual I do not remember much about them. I could probably call and ask, because they very helpfully keep track of yarn purchased there...)

Needles: US 11 16" circular, tapestry needle for finishing

Sleeves/top: CO 52 stitches in green. Work k1, p1 ribbing for one inch (this will be the cuff), then work the first five and last five stitches in garter stitch and the middle in stockinette. (The diamonds are worked in intarsia and begin about 1.5 inches up. I have not unpacked my notes, so I don't have the pattern for this part, but if/when I knit this again, I will probably want to do something different anyway.) When it is 11 inches long (note: these are very short sleeves, and very wide), begin garter stitch and knit about twelve rows. On the right side, knit 15, loosely bind off 22, knit 15. Knit 11 rows on these 15 stitches, ending on a wrong side row. Break yarn and attach to stitches left on needle. Knit until the two sections (front and back) match, then cast on 22 across the gap and continue in garter stitch until the sides match -- about 12 rows.

The right sleeve is worked in garter stitch for the first and last 15 stitches of each row, and stocking in the middle (wrong side: knit 15, purl 22, knit 15; right side: knit). After about five inches of this, the stripes start. The striped part of the right sleeve is made by changing colors on the WS every other row, so the color transitions look smooth on top of the arm, and all mixed up on the lower half. Something like this:

• (ws) change to red, k15, p22, k15
• (rs), knit
• change to teal, k15, p22, k15
• knit
• change to green, k15, p22, k15
• knit

There are five sets of these stripes, then another red, then the cuff is worked in k1, p1 ribbing in teal. Bind off.

Beginning at the cuff, sew the arms up to the armpits with mattress stitch. Pick up 98 stitches evenly. Working in the round, knit 10 rows, then change to red, and purl 18 rows. End with 8 rows of k1, p1 ribbing, then bind off.

Post Hiatus

Things that have happened since I last posted:

• A Fair of the Arts (May, June, July):
  
  


• oral surgery to remove all four wisdom teeth, look at my enormous swollen face:
  
  


• quit my boring dumb awful job (Yes! And...what now?)
  
• moved across four states (Indiana - Kentucky - West Virginia - Virginia)
  
• Celebrated Kristin's successful dissertation defense with a graveyard cake. Unfortunately the pictures are very blurry, but the stones marked graves of lots of things that died during (but not necessarily as a direct result of) her graduate career...
  
  
• cooked a lot of stuff (spanikopita, pizza, pizza, pizza, minestrone, cheater's samosas, peach & strawberry clafouti, bubble & squeak/potato pancakes (bubble & squatkes?)):
  
  
• almost no crafting, but this week I've started again:
  
  1. rag rug with Maisie.
     
     
  2. bath scrubby thing (needs a better name than "bath scrubby thing").
     
     
  
  

We finished a second rug this morning, but I haven't taken any pictures yet.

tiny hat pattern part I

These are some of the baby hats I've been making, unfinished and unblocked, but I think you can see how cute they are.

And here's a rudimentary version of a pattern for the green one, which is probably a child's size small:
On US5 circular needle, co 11 stitches.
Work in tweed stitch (WS: p2, *slip one with yarn in back, p1* to last stitch, p1; RS: k1, *slip one with yarn in front, k1* to end) for 22 inches.
Bind off.
Pick up 80 stitches along the long edge, leaving about one inch at the end, and join in a circle. Knit one round.
Work this pattern for three inches:
Rounds 1 & 2: k2, p2;
Rounds 3 & 4: p2, k2.
After about 3 inches, place markers every twenty stitches, and decrease. Every other round: kt2tog, maintain pattern to next marker, repeat.
Continue this decrease until 16 stitches remain. Finish.
Sew a large button on the overlap.

Too Much Spinning!

It is lumpy and inconsistent and weird and I completely love it.

Maisie's Skirt

DSC03372
Originally uploaded by lydia eden

I made myself a wrap skirt from this beautiful fabric about three years ago. I never wore it, and last summer, I pulled it out of the closet and realized what it need was about 15 inches off the length. Since shortening it, I have worn it often and I love it. When Maisie was visiting last week, I made her a matching skirt from the scraps. I stopped myself before making a third one for "dolly," but it's pretty clear to me that I should never be a stay-at-home mom, because I would indulge in this sort of creepy behavior all the time.

The Pillow of the Living Dead

This project was loosely inspired by Debbie Stoller's "Poster Boy" in Stitch 'n Bitch NATION.

Intarsia might have been a more natural approach to this sort of thing, but instead I ran the off-color yarn behind the working yarn, catching it every few stitches. This gives the sort of flecked appearance to the large patches of each color, where the off color shows through a little.

I used two different dk weight cotton yarns. One is a mercerized in a sort of lime-ish green, and the other is a slubby black. Unfortunately, I cannot find the labels for either, but I'm pretty sure I ordered both from WEBS. The needle was a 24" size 6 circular needle.

I cast on a lot of stitches (160? 164? The width of the chart plus eight, times two, whatever that is) with black and worked two rows in stocking stitch. Attached green yarn and knit 4 stitches in black before beginning chart. Followed chart, then knit 8 in black, repeated first row of chart, ended with 4 stitches in black. Continued in this way, with eight black stitches at each side. After finishing the chart, I knit one row in black, worked one inch in k1 p1 ribbing, then cast off.

Finishing:

I used fringe to close the bottom.


At the top edge, I crocheted some button holes and attached odd large buttons.



Oh right, here's the chart, which I colored by hand, for whatever reason.

p.s. here's picture the image comes from: