FO - Dress from Garnstudio/Drops Design

Front and side view

Pattern: Garnstudio/Drops Design 68-23

Yarn: Muskat in 8 different colours (#28, terracotta, being the main one)

Needles: Can't remember the sizes I used...

Time: Knitted and wove in a thousand ends between June and September, 2007. Seamed the side on the bodice and attached the straps at the back on July 26th, 2008.

The back

Project modifications: The first obvious one is that I changed the colours. I kept some of them (like the terracotta) but cut out the turquoise and the pink looking one.

Instead of the suggested yarn overs for increases in the zig zag pattern, I knitted through the front and back loop. I didn't like the holes made by the yarn overs (even when I twisted them on the next row) but much preferred the purl bump made by kfb. I also made centered double decreases (sl2tog, k1, pass slipped stitches over together) in the zig zag pattern instead of the paired k2tog and skp.

I had to change the intervals of decreases in the skirt part as I'm clearly more pear shaped than their intended wearer...

Pear shaped or what? :)

When decreasing stitches (the dress is knit from bottom up) I made that by omitting the increases (and just knit those stitches normally) instead of changing the decrease. (The pattern suggests to keep doing the increases with yo's and then alternate between decreasing either 2 or 4 stitches in every valley of the zig zag.) I preferred my look as it kept the zig zag pattern sharper. If you compare my pattern to the Drops', you'll find that theirs is much wavier than mine.

See the missing purl bumps on for example the white row at the bottom?

I made my straps much shorter than the suggested 30cm/11.75in, as I thought the straps knit in garter stitch would stretch like there's no tomorrow. I was right in doing so. For me, at least.

Comments: Knitting this was fun! I guess the constant changing of colours helped as I would've gotten bored if I had done this in one solid colour. At least I think so. Weaving in ends was a pain in the a$$ though....

I love the shine that Muskat has. It's a mercerized cotton and wasn't tough on my hands at all. I'd love to use it for more projects. The stitch definition is wonderful. (I think the picture above shows both the shine and the stitch definition very well.) I also like the way it looks in garter stitch.

Bodice part knit in garter stitch

There's quite some weight to this dress and I like how that makes it hang. I wore it Saturday night when boyfriend and I met up with some friends for an outdoor barbeque and it was cool enough when the sun was up and warm enough (with a jacket) for when the sun had set. I imagine I'll get quite a lot of wear out of it considering that it works as a fall dress as well with a shirt and stockings underneath. Wouldn't you say?

Petting two cats at the same time can lead to interesting poses...