Ok, sorry for the caps, but I'm so proud of myself. I finally finished the 40" long lace skirt I made in Euroflax Originals. In black. I was *so* glad I listened to one customer who reminded me to hang the skirt for at least 2 days to make sure I knew where I was with length. I knit the thing so loose, you see, and so lacey that it grew oodles -- but mostly on the second day!
Now, I'll back up.
Way back in February I knew I really wanted a summer skirt. Now, I didn't feel that I HAD to knit one. I just wanted a long summer skirt. Which is where I landed into trouble. I adore ankle length skirts. For me, that means about 40". And I couldn't find any. There may be tons out there, but I couldn't find one. And I'm hopeless at this time at sewing. So that left . . . knitting :)
My next plan of attack was to pick a summery yarn -- cotton or linen I thought. And I love black -- so Euroflax Originals won.
Now, I knew I wanted a fairly full skirt. And I didn't want it to bag out when I sat. I wanted to wear this one ALOT so that mean I needed lots of room for me inside the thing. Originally I didn't want to HAVE to wear a slip so I tried to make it all nice and dense . . . well I'm getting so blasted loose that I just couldn't get to gauge without using a 0 or smaller and that I didn't like. On a size 2 I was getting 7 sts/inch but it was still a bit see through. So I stuck with that, bought a slip, and figured on a 38" caston -- wider than my hips by a few inches. Linen won't stretch back and forth ya know. Elastic was added later. I moved up to a 3 after 3" from cast on (used knitted cast on). Then I started the lace (afterall, it was going to need a slip anyway!) from a chart in a book Chrisanne found for me which has feather and fan or old shale increasing along with the pattern (book was A Gathering Of Lace --a great book). I started way into the chart b/c I had so many stitches. I followed it until I had 27 repeats of 25 sts. It seemed enough. I ended with a skirt with about 18 or so feet in circumference.
At about 6.5" I went to a 4. Somewhere in here I started changing needles when I started a new skein (Euroflax Orig. has abou 270 yards) so I moved on to a 5, then a 6, then 7. The 5th and 6th skeins saw me working on an 8 only . At the end of the 5th, after it was soaked and left to hang, dripping itself dry was 23". Skeins 7&8 were on a 9. The end of the 7th skein gave me about 30" Un stretched as it were. After I finished the 8th skein I took it home and soaked it, spun it dry (yes on the needles, I wouldn't recommend this! not that I had troubles, but I had it rubberbanded all over those needle points) and hung it for 2 whole days. It dried on the 1st but I left it. Good thing. At the end of the first day it was about, oh 34"? At the end of the 2nd? 40". Wow. Nearly 41" but I tried not to see that number. Too far. Too far and I still needed to cast off.
Tinking. Yup, the glory. I tinked about 600 sts and then cast off WAY loosely with a crochet hook a la Crazy Toes and Heels.
And ran out of yarn.
So tink-tink went the cast on. And the next 2 rows.
And the cast off was successful this time :)
Now, I'll back up.
Way back in February I knew I really wanted a summer skirt. Now, I didn't feel that I HAD to knit one. I just wanted a long summer skirt. Which is where I landed into trouble. I adore ankle length skirts. For me, that means about 40". And I couldn't find any. There may be tons out there, but I couldn't find one. And I'm hopeless at this time at sewing. So that left . . . knitting :)
My next plan of attack was to pick a summery yarn -- cotton or linen I thought. And I love black -- so Euroflax Originals won.
Now, I knew I wanted a fairly full skirt. And I didn't want it to bag out when I sat. I wanted to wear this one ALOT so that mean I needed lots of room for me inside the thing. Originally I didn't want to HAVE to wear a slip so I tried to make it all nice and dense . . . well I'm getting so blasted loose that I just couldn't get to gauge without using a 0 or smaller and that I didn't like. On a size 2 I was getting 7 sts/inch but it was still a bit see through. So I stuck with that, bought a slip, and figured on a 38" caston -- wider than my hips by a few inches. Linen won't stretch back and forth ya know. Elastic was added later. I moved up to a 3 after 3" from cast on (used knitted cast on). Then I started the lace (afterall, it was going to need a slip anyway!) from a chart in a book Chrisanne found for me which has feather and fan or old shale increasing along with the pattern (book was A Gathering Of Lace --a great book). I started way into the chart b/c I had so many stitches. I followed it until I had 27 repeats of 25 sts. It seemed enough. I ended with a skirt with about 18 or so feet in circumference.
At about 6.5" I went to a 4. Somewhere in here I started changing needles when I started a new skein (Euroflax Orig. has abou 270 yards) so I moved on to a 5, then a 6, then 7. The 5th and 6th skeins saw me working on an 8 only . At the end of the 5th, after it was soaked and left to hang, dripping itself dry was 23". Skeins 7&8 were on a 9. The end of the 7th skein gave me about 30" Un stretched as it were. After I finished the 8th skein I took it home and soaked it, spun it dry (yes on the needles, I wouldn't recommend this! not that I had troubles, but I had it rubberbanded all over those needle points) and hung it for 2 whole days. It dried on the 1st but I left it. Good thing. At the end of the first day it was about, oh 34"? At the end of the 2nd? 40". Wow. Nearly 41" but I tried not to see that number. Too far. Too far and I still needed to cast off.
Tinking. Yup, the glory. I tinked about 600 sts and then cast off WAY loosely with a crochet hook a la Crazy Toes and Heels.
And ran out of yarn.
So tink-tink went the cast on. And the next 2 rows.
And the cast off was successful this time :)
I finished it Sunday (all of Sunday was tinking and Casting off). I wore it to work Tuesday and so on. I love it.
And I got a lot of interest when I was working on it -- either because it was beautiful (I hope it was this option), or a huge project, or idle curiosity or just an insane project that would surely never work . . .
And here, drum roll please . . . is the skirt (yes I know, too dark, but you get an idea. Better piccys when I can get 'em):
At least the second shows the pattern -- white sheet behind the work -- pre-hanging.
At least the second shows the pattern -- white sheet behind the work -- pre-hanging.So that's what I've been doing. Next -- summer tops! ~Briony
1 comment:
You have to see the skirt in person. It is utterly fabulous! It has inspired me to make one in off-white just below the knee. I can't wait to get started.
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