This was one of the most complicated patterns I have followed. It is knitted in the round using circular needles, I had used circulars once before to knit a hat, it involves stripes which I have never knitted before and stripes in the round are even more complicated. I consider myself to be a competent, confident knitter with a few years of experience, I love to try new techniques provided I can find the help I need.
To knit the stripes in the round I had to ensure that I carried the yarn up that I was not knitting, I chose to do this on every other row. The stripes were six rows wide, so a carried up in rows one, three and five. When you are knitting in the round you are actually knitting a spiral so when you change colour you can see the join, I had to learn a new technique to hide the join, the jogless jog. The pattern provided a link but I could not make sense of it at all and I still had a jog, I consulted my knitting book but it made no mention of it. A google search gave me a few websites with descriptions that I still could not make sense of so I looked on YouTube and found the perfect method, simple, easy to remember and it worked. You knit one row in your new colour, the first stitch of row two you slip purlwise and knit the rest of the rows as usual.
I wanted wooden buttons but I was unable to find any in the very small size I needed in the time I had, so I settled for some orange ones. After blocking, this dress only just fits. My daughter must be very big for her age, or the pattern writer had a small child as I knitted the age six size and it only just fits, my daughter is three!
She has only worn it once so far, but I think I will be trying to ensure that it gets worn as much as possible as it will not fit next winter, although with the weather we have had for the past few summers she may want to wear it in June!
If you want to knit one you can find the pattern on ravelry and it is free!
Joining in with Nicole for Keep Calm and Craft On.