Crocheted dress for a 6 yo

Remember the yellow dress I crocheted for my niece for her birthday late last year?

I am pleased to report that she has worn it a couple of times since.

In fact, as you can see from this photo, the dress has been crocheted extra long to take into consideration her growing height.

However, since the last time she wore it in her kindergarten (K2) Christmas celebrations, she has gone home to her grandma and declared that the dress was a no-go.

The reason?

The other kids at school made comments about her modesty, or rather the lack thereof -- apparently, they teased her about the see-through columns.

So I really need to get a little slip dress for her to encourage her to keep on wearing it!

In case you are wondering -- my 6 yo niece Ms P, hasn't complained about being hot in this dress. She has not just worn it indoors but we did walk a bit out on the footpaths in Orchard Road in the late afternoon.

Interested in the details? I have blogged about my making of crochet dress pattern in an earlier post.


This personal knitting and crochet blog of mine has taken a back seat since last September as much of my time has been directed to the new customers who signed up for our knitting and crochet classes.

Blogging requires one to commit proper desk time with all that thinking, writing, photo uploading and editing activities -- I just haven't got around to allocating time blocks to these and you just simply do not get much traction doing them in random bits and bites, if you know what I mean.

But I am still knitting and crocheting actively on the go.

So if you are into a reading mode, do feel free to pop by my other knitting/crochet blog - The Handiworks.



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Here's wishing Great Health, Happiness, Prosperity and Speedy Crocheting and Knitting to all readers this Lunar New Year!

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Handknit that looks smashing when worn by my sister

Remember that dropped stitch tank top that I knitted about a year ago?

While it's been worn quite frequently, I noticed I haven't got around to posting the final FO photos.

Here it is, as worn on the mannequin.

If you notice, while this dropped ladder stitch really opens up nicely, I just detest how it can look really unweldy when it comes to areas like the armholes and the neckline. 

So I paid a lot more attention when it comes to picking up and knitting those areas to make sure they are neat. More importantly, I also wanted to avoid the neck edge "dog ears" -- you know how the tips tend to flip outward after prolonged wearing?

The end result turns out quite well. In fact, this dropped stitch ripple tunic is knitted with my sister in mind, so the torso and bust area was also shaped to fit her curvy body. [I simply look like a stick man in this.]

She was sitting down when I took this photo so the torso may not look as fitted.

However, this garment fits her like a glove and just simply looks stunning, don't you agree?


Actually, most of slightly fitted pieces look great on her. The garments end up being more visually pleasing. Want proof? Check this other lace tunic out worn by my sister (scroll to bottom of the blog post) as opposed to me wearing it!

Then I had a deja vu moment. It happened when I was browsing the web the other day and saw other bloggers referring to the Fitted Knits of Stephanie Japel.

Doesn't my pattern look quite similar?

So it's a case of "it's the same but it's different?"

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Pink + yellow = a happy fellow!

During Ms P's birthday last December, that is. All wrapped up beautifully with ribbon.

Knowing that pink is her fave color (isn't it a default trend color for all little gals under the age of 5?!), the pink capelet I was working on was also added to her birthday present repertoire. I attached a cute pink button to match too!


What's a birthday without a birthday cake? Not only did she get a real mini cake, a miniature crocheted birthday cake was also plated for her candle blow out.

Squeals of delight could be heard. I was extremely delighted.

Keeping in mind that Ms P's little bro, M kid is around and too young to understand why everybody is fussing and giving so much attention to his older sister, I also handed him a mini crocheted ice-cream cone. He gave an incredibly wide grin.

Unfortunately, I didn't manage to snap a photo of it. [During moments like this, I am really grateful for my crochet skills as mini amigurumi items can be whipped up quickly to appease my young audience.]

Given the heavy rain at evening, Ms P also very gamely wore the yellow crocheted frock for my obligatory photoshoot.

So in fact, when the capelet was unwrapped, M kid also insisted on donning it. At his age, he's pretty much mimicking what his older sister does and exercising his equality rights ~ Jiejie (chinese word for "elder sister") have, so should Didi ("little brother").

Being the big sister, she is quite obliging. You can see that she's very close to her little bro, M kid.

That was indeed a very happy night for all of us.

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Baby handknit cardigan gifted!

Luckily, I had an extended deadline as GT said that we'll be presenting the gift at the baby shower which took place last weekend.

"Progressing at a good rate?"

Spoke too soon during my last blog entry.

I thought of minimizing seams on this project that I actually decided to knit the raglan sleeves downwards. Not that it's a problem, except that I wasn't concentrating on the maths.

Had a OOPS, SHUCKS! moment with the sleeve. Not just once, but both times. So frogpond visiting it was.

Once it was complete, I also gave it a good wash so that the project would unfurl. I just simply hung it on a clothes hangar and left it to drip dry in my bathroom. [This would NOT be recommended if you are having an adult garment!]

A good steam iron also helps!




Initially, I was also faced with the dilemma of how the patterns would go on the sleeves themselves.

As you can see, there are actually 2 different shades of variegated yarns. Thanks to careless packing by the shop assistant (one of my many yarn shopping trips eons ago!) I had 2 different dyelots.

As a result, not only are the colors distinctly different, I was rather short on yarn. Had 3 balls of one lot and 2 of the other.

So I took on a white yarn to break up the colors and also had a slightly broader stripe on the upper chest area. The same white yarn then also took on the role of as ribbed borders all over.

And I had just the simple translucent buttons to match.

Oh, and I had the handiworks tag sewn on it as well! (Too bad, it wasn't obvious in the photo.) And the baby's initials JT embroidered on the bottom right corner.

Here are the specs:
Pattern: Self design
Fits: One year old (I try to avoid baby items unless they are certain to be used - babies outgrow their clothes really quick!)
Yarn quantity used: 4 x 50g 4ply variegated yarn + 1x 50g white yarn
Time taken: 1.5mths intermittently

I am glad the baby's parents liked it!

PS. I know there are probably still some readers out there. Do let me know if my blog entries are boring you to tears. Apart from my customers, that is. :)

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Destashing with a baby gift project

Once every so often, a baby's impending arrival would jolt me from my rather erratic knitting and crochet schedule. This time, it was my husband's colleague's announcement.

Funnily, men just don't remember to inform you early. They just prefer a month's notice and when asked, the reason simply is, "I forgot."

Hmmpf...

GT suggested that I could go with the usual suspects - small pair of booties or socks. There was a pair that I knitted and gifted previously to another colleague of his back in 2007. (Gosh, that sounds so long ago!)

Obviously meant for a baby girl, with the cute pink flowers on the cuff.

But I am just not in the mood for socks.

So to bring up the challenge factor, I decided that a cardigan would be "IT". And while at that, I figured that using yarns from my stash would be good.

After all, detashing is good. This helps alleviate the hoarding madness.

As you can tell, it's meant for a little boy.

I have opted for a whole piece rather than the standard 3 piece (one back and 2 front pieces) approach as I wanted it to be portable. Besides, who wants to do more sewing?

Rather than to go variegated all the way, I have used a solid white yarn for garter rows to break up the colors.  Besides, it's always a relief to the mind since the scheduled section breaks make me feel that my project is growing.

It's progressing at a good rate!

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Pink please!

Fueled by the enthusiasm shown by Ms P, my niece towards the crocheted capelet, I felt encouraged and crochet her a blouse top.

As you can tell, it's a top down pattern. [Actually when I put it on the mannequin, I saw the potential of this design being a fashionably chic neck bangle when crocheted using the right yarn!]

Then disaster struck. I showed it to my niece excitedly and got her to try it on for size. And we had a conversation that went like this:

The soon-to-be-5yo gal said, "Auntie Mommy, the armholes are a tad tight."

I replied, "Ok, I'll redo and fix the armholes."

And I proceeded to ask, "Do you like this?"

She went silent for a while and went, "I prefer pink better."

ARRGHHHH!

Then mustering all the calm I could, I told her, "P, if you really do not like yellow, then I'll abandon the project. I will not continue on so you wouldn't have this finished project to wear. Is that ok with you?"

She looked at me and then replied in the sweetest voice, "Auntie Mommy, do finish the project. I will promise to wear it. I just simply like pink better but it's ok if it's yellow."

Aww.... aren't kids just simply so adorably charming when they know they are treading on the edge of a volcano?

Got to hand it to her.

And so, the story continues.

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Something for my niece

My delightful niece (likewise, her little kid brother) addresses me as "Auntie Mommy" - a term coined by my younger sister who decided that her wonderful kids could well be mine; since I have none of my own. [Not that I am in desperate need nor have the urge to have some offspring yet.]

Anyway...

So I constantly have her in mind whenever I feel the urge to get some toddler knitting/crochet projects started.

This recent project was sparked off by a conversation my mom and I had when we were mall shopping. My mom saw a poncho and commented that it is a very child-friendly keep-warm clothing item. Besides not having buttons to fuss with, there is also no need for the struggle to get the kid's arms into the item; unlike a sweater. And the coverage is sufficient.

Hence the idea of a capelet.

As usual, I have gone through the route of selecting a pattern, working it almost halfway through, then ripping it back entirely. I just wanted a pattern that had a bit more coverage (less lacey) and also more girlish.

Reason: Just simply because I wasn't satisfied with the way it looked.  [Does that ever happen to any of you?]


So this was the resulting piece.

I had decided to finish off with a round of crochet flowers and those had the stamp of approval from my niece who comments that she "loves pink!"

Well, if you know what that means...

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Dropping stitches for the fun of it

I seriously declare myself a process knitter. I just start so many projects on a whim and that I lost track of the many resulting UFOs in residence.

Having been often nagged by my sister that she only had the honour of ever receiving the one and only handknit sweater from me (while it looks absolutely frumpy on me, the sweater comes to life when my sister puts it on!), I decided it was time to knit another project for her.

Taking a cue from a knitting book, I have decided that a simple dropped ladder stitch pattern with simple ribbing works best for this nubby yarn.

This yarn was something from the closet -- gifted by my good friend who first picked up knitting with me about 14 years ago, then abandoned ship. She figured rather than to have the yarn be lying around, it should go to a good knitter's home.

Which wasn't an issue, until I realized due to its uneven texture, the dropped stitches aren't exactly as defined as I liked them to be, forcing me to work on twisted stitches next to them when I could have gone with standard knitting. Arrgh!

But did I love the result? Absolutely! I just had to put this on the mannequin to check out the final measurements. I left the armholes unworked as I wanted my sister to actually try it on so I can gauge how much to bind off the armholes for -- she has a much longer upper bodice than me.

This has got to be one of the fastest knit that'll be FOed recently!

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Everything about the Lily Chin crochet lace dress

Edited to add:
Several people have wrote to me asking where this pattern is available. I tried locating it myself and found that it's somehow not showing up. But there's the direct link to the Interweave Store Lily Chin crochet dress pattern page for the e-purchase download. 

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Well, this is it!

This entry got delayed as I was trying to take reasonable photos of the dress. I am happy to report that the pre- / post- washing doesn't have much changes to the length, width etc.

The modelled, chest out, look far far away style.

No head shot coz that would probably spoil the photo.

So just use your imagination to envision the whole look ok?

Many have asked me for more details about this dress. Here are the notes:

Pattern: Lily Chin designed lace crochet dress found in the first issue of Interweave Crochet.
Size made: the smallest and teeniest (coz I modified the skirt from bodice down to have it body snug.)
Yarn used: 9 balls of Schachenmayr Nomotta Catania
Needles used: size 3mm and 4mm crochet hooks

Time taken: 2.5 weeks from start to finish -- that's a personal record for something this size (my crochet flowers motif top took the same amount of time too!)

Pattern construction

This pattern is worked in 2 directions:
- From below the bust/bodice up to the neck.
- Then pick and crochet downwards from the lower edge of the bust for the skirt.


Pattern modifications:

The dress draws in nicely and shortens automatically due to the smaller hook I used. I also added 2 more shell rows below the bust (by picking up from under the bust) when I realized that due to my hook change, the bodice ended up too short. [For those of you whose bust may be low set, you may need to add 2 rows or so of plain shells before you go into the shaping.]

I lowered the neckline as I found it too high for my liking. This is with much trial and error.

Other than that, I also found that there's a slight gap where the sleeve meets the bust so I added a small shell dart (as an afterthought), making it less obvious.I started out using the measurements for the smallest sizing but from the skirt portion, I went down 3 repeats from the start so it has a slimmer silhouette.

So as you can see, sometimes, I just like to fiddle with a pattern too much! LOL!

I have managed to find a black slip from my wardrobe which works fairly well. Except that the slip neckline threatens to do peek-a-boos at all times. So my students suggested a snap fastener to be sewn on the inside to make it stay in place.

Here's another with me sitting down.

Nothing too indecent...though I have to remember to do the obligatory dress sweep

before I sit to ensure it doesn't ride up too much!

So this is concludes my adventure with this lace crochet dress! I really love the way the dress fits and the minimal swing that makes this dress feminine yet chic due to the lower neckline. 

You can bet that this will be my favorite dress in my wardrobe from now on! [Until I knit or crochet another one, that is! (grin)] 

PS. Thanks to Jeanie for putting this up on her CrochetCast (aka podcast) -- do go check her out!

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