the blue blog archives: some good news and some bad news (still better than no news at all)

Wee one's Barefoot Knits tank is almost, almost done. Just one strap to sew closed and a few last ends to weave in and, oh right, there is the issue of the missing butterfly. I had meant to add a little butterfly motif to the front but after finding a sweet chart (thanks for your help, everyone!) and knitting half of it, I realized that I'd made a mistake when I started it. It was very annoyingly juuuust off center. Grrrrr! Out it went and, along with it, my desire to knit any more intarsia. So I knit the front section with my knitting class this week and am presently considering sewing a few cute butterfly buttons on the bodice instead. I did promise wee one that there'd be a butterfly on the dress and she never forgets things like that!

The good news is that the dress fits great! I made a ton of mods to the original pattern, so this was by no means certain, but I got lucky. After casting on a different amount to accommodate the ruffle stitch from the comfort zone skirt pattern, I ended up with about 20 extra stitches for the body of the tank. I worked some paired decreases near the upper section of the skirt to get back down to the proper number. I also added 3 or 4 inches to the tank so it would be more dress-length than tunic-length. And finally, I lowered the neck in the front of the tank so it wouldn't come up quite so high on her throat. Seriously, the neck is sooo much better this way. I can't wait for the modeled pictures on this one!

posted by alison at 5:47 pm | in summer knits

Comments

My kids always were satisfied with the motif buttons - saves you a bunch of time -- have fun either way, Thea

Posted by: thea at May 8, 2009 6:47 PM

very cure. I finished the little cap sleeve top I made for baby M (http://soulfulhuesknits.blogspot.com/2008/02/girls-cap-sleeved-spring-top-with.html) & love the way it came out. It is such a cute pattern &, best of all, no finishing at all (other than weaving in ends & blocking.) I was going to make it long enough to be a summer dress & then a vest for winter but couldn't find a second skein of the pink Cotton Fleece. Most of my yarn bins are on the ping pong table in the basement & the light is terrible. I think I'll have to put my extra Ott light down there so I can find yarn when I want to. One corner of the basement has no windows so even going down there in the daytime doesn't really help. Love the orange top! You might be able to find pretty butterfluy patches to sew on too.

Posted by: Donna at May 8, 2009 7:56 PM

You might be able to find a butterfly applique at the fabric store you could attach to the front.

Posted by: Charlotte at May 8, 2009 8:43 PM

I'm curious to know what you're doing with all the handknits that wee one has grown out of? The knowledge that kids grow so fast is slowing me down from making more knits for my own wee one.

Posted by: Minneapolismama at May 9, 2009 12:10 AM

Oh man, I can't wait to see how it looks on her!

Posted by: Jane at May 9, 2009 9:55 AM

"I can't wait for the modeled pictures on this one!"

OOh, we can't either.

I bought some lovely orange stretchy yarn in a sale bin last week and thought of this blog and how much Knitsmith loves orange. I love it too. My youngest child is a Halloween-born baby and has always been partial to orange (because of the pumpkins).

I love the idea about the buttons. You could also look for some cute butterfly appliques to hand sew on the dress. With the buttons, be careful as you are taking the dress off her. I once had some decorative buttons on a little t shirt that I had sewn for my DD and one time taking it off over her head, I scraped her face with the button.

Posted by: Sandee at May 9, 2009 1:23 PM

The dress is so cute. I can't wait to see it modeled.

Posted by: silverarrowknits at May 9, 2009 8:05 PM

It's really cute. I have another thought, you could make the butterfly out of I-cord. Just do a simple butterfly outline.

Posted by: KnittyLynn at May 10, 2009 6:12 PM

I love it just the way it is. It needs nothing else besides your daughter to complete it.

Posted by: knitterlee at May 10, 2009 7:07 PM

What about doing the butterfly in duplicate stitch? I have done this for sweaters for children and it has worked out very well. Just a thought.

Posted by: Patsy at May 11, 2009 9:14 AM

Maybe an appliqued butterfly? Or two buttons, one on each strap?

Posted by: karin at May 12, 2009 2:27 AM

I've been working on this top down hat for Emily...and it has lace...I did a lot of increases for the ruffel edge but now that I'm casting off, it's coming out more like a round placement mat or doily then a hat ...what did I do wrong :-(

Posted by: Orli at May 18, 2009 3:47 AM