Hand-Knit Sweater Dress – I highly doubt I’d wear this dress if I hadn’t knit it
The minute I decided I was actually going to do the self-made wardrobe project I started rummaging through my yarn and fabric to see what I already had on hand.
I came across a huge ball of lace weight yarn in fairly ghastly colors, but it was a beautiful yarn, with a great drape, so I figured I would just overdye* whatever I made with it.
*overdying is when you re-dye something (yarn, fabric, clothes, whatever) that’s already been dyed, so it’s a different color than it was originally dyed
The results were unexpected, and pretty spectacular. That being said, I would never wear this dress if I hadn’t knit it.
Never, ever, ever.
I don’t do pink.
I don’t do brown.
I don’t do tan.
I don’t do green.
I guess this is the exception that proves the rule…
Unfortunately the ball was unlabeled when I pulled it out of my yarn stash (oops), so I don’t know what the yarn is, or what the color way is, or what the yardage is. But I’m guessing that it’s a wool/silk blend, and that the yardage was around 1,000 yards.
ETA 10/25/14: I did a little digging and I think the yarn just might be “Lorna’s Laces Helen’s Lace” in the colorway “Vera.” In which case it’s a 50/50 wool/silk blend, with 1,250 yards per skein.
I wanted a simple straightforward lace weight sweater pattern, and the “Silken Straw Summer Sweater” from The Purl Bee was perfect. I loved how simple the design was, that it was written for a lace weight, and that I got gauge (almost).
Since I didn’t know how much yardage I had, I wanted to knit my sweater from the top-down, so I reworked the pattern to be top-down. I also eliminated some of the neckline shaping so that the front and back scooped evenly.
Other than that I basically worked the pattern as written – but backwards.
So increases became decreases, decreases became increases, cast-ons became bind-offs, and bind-offs became cast-ons, etc.
(I also did a garter ridge around each hem just before attaching the i-cord – I don’t remember if that’s in the original pattern or not.)
Because I kept going back and forth on over-dyeing I finished knitting this sweater way back in May, but then it sat on my desk unblocked until a couple weeks ago.
Overall, I really love how it turned out. It’s a weird, funky, unexpected, (hard to style), self-made wardrobe win.
The Blue Kimono – one of the first pieces I made for the self-made wardrobe
This blue kimono was one of the first things I made specifically for the self-made wardrobe project. It’s one of the pieces I wear most often, and it’s definitely one of the pieces I get complimented on the most.
The fabric is a sheer navy (probably polyester), with embroidered squares that have been glued on, sort of a “novelty chiffon.” It was a complete impulse purchase from A&K Fabrics, and cost pretty close to nothing. 2 yards of fabric got cut up into 6 rectangles, and 5 of those rectangles turned into a kimono.
The pattern is my own, but I’m not really sure it could be called a pattern.
I laid out the fabric and portioned it out into 6 rectangles. 2 front pieces, 1 back piece, 2 sleeves, and 1 neckband (which didn’t get used, and which isn’t in the photo.) The fronts are approximately half the width of the back, and the sleeves are pretty close to squares.
(left to right: french seam, flat felled seams, sleeve hem)
Since the fabric is sproingy and unravels easily I used a combination of french seams, and flat felled seams. Then I did deep hems & cuffs, with stitching at the top and bottom edges, the stitching was to keep the hems flat, and the depth was to give the hems a bit of weight, so the kimono would hang nicely.
It works with dresses, skirts, jeans (even if they aren’t self-made), and is kind of the perfect light layer to throw on.
I wore it all summer, a bunch of this fall, and I sort of doubt I’ll put it away entirely this winter. Self-Made Wardrobe Win!
The Versio Sweater – finished!
Knit. Washed. Worn. Finished.
And I love it.
I love the crazy colors, and the striping, and the fit, and the hood.
Love, love, love.
Apologies for inclusion of the phone, but it’s how I’m controlling the camera…
Project Details
The Pattern: Versio by Ankestrick
The Yarn: 1 skein of Julie Asselin’s “Merletto,” 1 skein of Sweet Georgia’s “Merino Silk Lace,” 1 skein of Fiberspates’ “Scrumptious,” and 2 skeins of Cascade’s “Forest Hills.”
The Needles: US 8 (5.0 mm) needle
The Gauge: 24 sts = 4 inches; 30 rows = 4 inches
The Size: small
The Modifications: lots
: held 2 strands of lace weight together throughout – instead of one
: different color sequence – but kept the stripes at 12 rows/stripe
: left out the cording
: added a hood – following Rililie’s notes
The sleeves are made using the contiguous method for working seamless top down set in sleeves.
While I think the method is really interesting, and something I want to play with in the future, the armscyes* on this sweater ended up way to large for me.
*The armscye is the measurement around the armhole of a garment – where your sleeve attaches to the body of a garment.
Part of that is probably so that the sweater can go over a shirt of some sort – and part of it is probably due to my messing a bit with the gauge.
It certainly isn’t the end of the world.
The original pattern has a deep, square collar, but I replaced that with a hood.
I followed the notes on Rililie’s Ravelry project page. I worked 6 stripes straight, then bound off the center stitches and worked 1 stripe on either side of the bind off, and finished with 2 rows on either side with the blue & yellow, before working a three needle bind off.
Every time I put on the hood I feel a little bit like a cartoon character.
Which I love.
The hems on the sleeves & body are turned hems that create a tube designed to have cording threaded through. I had planned to use yellow & blue cording, so it wouldn’t clash with the black & yellow hems.
After wearing it, I think I’m going to close up the slits in the sleeve hems (leaving just straightforward turned hems) and not thread the cording through the bottom hem.
I don’t think the sweater needs it, and I’ll find another use for the cording.
I wrote 3 posts about the process of knitting this sweater:
The Versio Sweater – beginnings
The Versio Sweater – a sweater body, sleeves, and a change of plans
The Versio Sweater – hood, finishing, and making twisted cord
