23 March 2006

FO: Corinne...

Of course, when I finished this last night I realized that a) lace garments require solid garments to be worn underneath and b) I do not own anything to wear under this dress. For photo purposes, I made do with a tank top and leggings.



Pattern: Corinne from Knitting Fog
Start/Finish: Mar. 17 - Mar. 22, 2006
Yarn: Jaeger Aqua in chrome (306); approx. 5.5 skeins (633yds/583m)
Needles: Denise Interchangeables sizes US9/5.5mm and US6/4mm
Modifications: Adjustments for row gauge difference; shortened skirt by 8in/20cm

Notes:

Gauge: The gauge given is measured over the parachute lace pattern. For some reason my stitch gauge was spot on but my row gauge was two times smaller than the one in the pattern. Rather than calculating the length measurement using 12 rounds as 10cm, I had to double that to 24 rounds to 10cm.

Pattern: This was a fairly simple pattern. The lace pattern was easy to memorize - only six repeats - and read. Although part of what made it easier to read the knitting was the cotton yarn. I could see the stitches clearly and note exactly what stitch did what in the pattern. It's also a fairly concise pattern. It only gives instructions for a size small. However, it would not be difficult to make adjustments for larger sizes. There were also a couple parts that could have used more details in describing how to work the pattern but it was generally simple enough that anything missing I could figure out.

Surpringly, this dress has worked out quite nicely. As I've mentioned before, I don't normally find knit dresses or skirts flattering, but this one is. I did decide to make it 20cm shorter, though. The original pattern has the dress going down to the knees on someone who looks on the tall side. Or at least taller than me. I considered only going 10cm shorter to accommodate my height (or lack thereof), but I decided on 20cm because that would make it short enough to wear with pants but not too short to wear alone. It ended up being about three to four inches above the knee depending on how much I move.

A note on yardage: If making the dress to the original length, I would recommend getting a bit more yarn than called for. While I did sub the yarn, the Jaeger Aqua matched the description of the yarn the designer used right down to the yardage (meterage?). I bought what was required and shortened the skirt quite substantially and still only had about half a skein (50m) left. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have had enough for the full length version.

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