Looking more like a dress every day March 13, 2009
After finishing up the left front shoulder, I decided that the only thing I could do to the right one was to rip it back, pick up that dropped stitch, and re-knit it. Luckily at that spot the front only had 17 stitches, decreasing every other row down to ten stitches, so really it didn’t take all that long at all to fix it properly. Thank goodness.
After getting that done, I pinned the sides, and seamed the first side. The sun was setting as I was finishing up that first seam, so it got a little hard to see near the end. Hopefully I’ll get started seaming the second side earlier in the day today. Hopefully.
Part way through seaming that first side, I mentally bonked myself on the head. I hadn’t done the shoulder seams yet. Ah well. After seaming the first side, I turned the dress inside out, and knit the shoulders together. That I could do with normal lamp light. Yea!
  
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The picture on the far right shows my finished seam. The knitting on the left looks more open than that on the right, because part way through knitting the back’s lower skirt I blocked it. I was worried that it might not stretch out to the correct size. I’m still a tad nervous about that little issue. It certainly won’t fit me, but I’m not the intended wearer. Stephanie’s slimmer in the hips than I am. I think that once the whole dress is blocked that the seam will be all but invisible, and it’ll fit Stephanie just fine. I hope.
In reading all your comments to yesterday’s post, I see that I’m among good company in thinking the baby pictures in the new Knitty are… disturbing.
Also in yesterday’s comments, Erica noted that she doesn’t think she’d have the patience to knit a whole dress. Honestly, lace on size 4 needles goes just as quickly for a dress as for a shawl. Add to that that I like large shawls, and once done I think the dress will be smaller than say, Dulcavina that I knit last year. I know it’ll be smaller than In the Woods. That thing is huge.
Sylvia March 13
Beautiful.
Sometimes when I feel daunted by the size of a project, I calculate the number of stitches. I knit a variation of the Fina shawl for my daughter last year with yarnplace Gentle and it was 77k stitches and fussy, but around 60k I was wishing I could go to 100k. DD said it would be too big… I was in the groove, though, and there’s something splendid about building an expanse of fabric like that, even on teeny tiny needles.
Hyrna Herborgar with the standard 9 fans is only 27k, and the way I’ve knit it a few times (13 fans) it’s 50k. It’s a quick knit. So, instead of shying away from knitting a dress the next time I see a pattern I want to try, I will calculate the stitches and then knit the thing! Thanks for the inspiration.
amanda March 13
Well, somehow I missed yesterday’s post, but I have to agree that the baby photos are creepy…although, I’m not sure if maybe that’s deliberate…
The dress is really coming along quickly now! I think I’d be more worried about shaping than size, though. It’ll be fun to see how it blocks out.
Erica March 14
The dress is looking great! It’s lace; everything will block out fine. It’s fun to see it coming together.
As for the patience, I guess it depends on the kind of patience you have. I’ve knit and enjoyed lace shawls, and I’ve knit a sweater on size 3’s, but somehow a lace dress is more than I think I’d tackle (at least right now). Might be the pieces: I don’t mind endless projects in the round, but I don’t care for switching direction. You’re probably right that it’d be fine once started, though.
Keana March 15
that dress looks so cozy & elegant! I love it, can’t wait to see it on a body!